3 govt-approved diamond valuers among 4 arrested
MUMBAI: Of the four arrested in connection with siphoning off ₹2,000-crore by over-invoicing imports of rough diamonds, three are government-approved valuers, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has said. One of them has also been a part of the I-T department raids conducted for valuing jewellery.
The arrested have been identified as Paresh Shah, Pradeep Jhaveri, Naresh Mehta and Vicky Kakkad. The GJEPC said that Shah and Jhaveri are not Gjepcapproved, while Mehta is a government-approved valuer. However, DRI sources stated that Shah and Jhaveri are valuers approved by the Customs.
Shah has also accompanied the I-T department in several raids conducted for valuing jewellery. Meanwhile, the fourth accused, Kakkad, is a custom house agent.
The DRI, on Thursday, intercepted 14 consignments of rough diamonds with a declared value of ₹156crore, which were found to be only worth ₹1.20crore.
The interception was based on a tip-off that 14 consignments of rough diamonds of very low quality were being imported at Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB), Mumbai. The DRI apprehends that the group has sent ₹2000crore abroad using the modus operandi.
“The preliminary probe has
revealed the valuers agreed to undervalue the price for a monetary consideration of ₹15 to ₹20 lakh,” said a high-ranking DRI officer. The DRI stated that the modus used was to import rough diamonds of cheap quality from overseas destinations like Hong Kong and Dubai in connivance with exporters in these countries.
The rough diamonds were procured at grossly overvalued prices. Upon arrival at BDB, the accused, with the assistance of
some members on the panel of valuers got the consignments declared to be of ‘fair value’, the officer said.
Investigations found the overvaluation was to the tune of more than ₹150crore. The DRI then tracked past consignments based on which, it is estimated that an amount of over ₹2,000 crore has been illegally laundered to overseas destinations. “The main accused is absconding,” said the officer.