CBI registerers fresh case against Choksi
NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a fresh case against fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, his firm Gitanjali Gems Ltd (GGL) and others for allegedly cheating government entity Industrial Finance Corporation of India Ltd (IFCI) of ₹22.6 crore between 2014 and 2018 by inflating the value of jewellery and precious stones pledged to procure a loan of ₹25 crore.
In its FIR filed on Saturday, the CBI said Choksi approached IFCI Ltd seeking financial assistance for long-term working capital requirement and induced the financial institution to sanction a corporate loan of ₹25 crore in March 2016.
The IFCI Ltd, according to the FIR, relied on the representation, assurances and undertakings of GGL as well as Choksi and the value of the pledged jewels on the basis of valuation conducted by valuers Surajrmal Lallu Bhai and Company, Narendra Jhaveri, Pradip Shah and Shrenik Shah. It is alleged the loan was disbursed on the basis of security cover of two times based on the pledge of shares and pledge of gold, diamond and studded jewellery, for which valuation was done by the named valuers. They all have also been named as accused. HT has reviewed the FIR.CBI said Choksi’s company defaulted on repayment of loan instalments and to recover the money, IFCI Ltd invoked the pledge and out of total 2,060,054 pledged shares, it could sell only 648,822 shares worth ₹4.07 crore as the Choksi’s client ID was suspended by the National Securities Depository Ltd.
To realise the security, IFCI the appointed two valuers who conducted a fresh valuation of the pledged jewels (gold, diamonds and studded jewellery). The fresh valuation saw a drop in the valuation of the pledged jewels by 98% in three years.
“It also came to the light that the diamonds were of low-quality laboratory prepared chemical vapour diamonds and other inferior colour stones and not real gemstones,” CBI said in the FIR.
Choksi and the company overall caused a loss of ₹22.06 crore to the IFCI Ltd, CBI said.
Choksi is residing in Antigua and Barbuda, where he fled immediately after the PNB fraud worth ₹13,578 crore came to light in 2018. He is accused of cheating PNB of ₹6,097 crore.