PNB Fraud: ED Restitutes Rs 2,500 Cr Assets of Mehul Choksi

New Delhi, Dec 10 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate Tuesday said it has begun restituting assets worth more than Rs 2,500 crore as part of a money laundering investigation against absconding businessman Mehul Choksi in connection with the alleged Rs 13,000 crore PNB loan fraud case.

The federal agency said in a statement that it initiated the 'restitution of assets' to the rightful owners in this case following an order passed by a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court based in Mumbai.

"In pursuance to the order, the process of handing over of assets has been initiated and properties worth more than Rs 125 crore have been handed over to the Liquidator of Gitanjali Gems Ltd (a company of Choksi).

"The handed over properties include six flats in Kheni Tower at Santacruz in east Mumbai and two factories/godowns situated at Santacruz Electronic Export Processing Zone (SEEPZ) in the capital city of Maharshatra," it said.

The ED has attached or seized assets worth Rs 2,565.90 crore in this PMLA case against Choksi and the court has allowed "monetisation" of all these properties.

The agency said it took "proactive steps" to initiate the restitution process and the probe agency, along with the affected banks, "agreed to take a common stand" and moved the court.

The court, on September 10, ordered that the ED would "facilitate" the banks, liquidators in different Gitanjali Group companies to carry out valuation and auction of the attached or seized properties. It also directed that after auction of the said properties, the sale proceeds would be deposited in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) and ICICI Bank (affected lenders) as fixed deposits.

Choksi has been staying in Antigua since 2018 after leaving India.

Choksi, his nephew, fugitive diamond trader Nirav Modi and their family members and employees, bank officials and others were booked by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2018 for perpetrating the alleged loan fraud at the Brady House branch of the PNB in Mumbai.

It was alleged that Choksi, his firm Gitanjali Gems, and others "committed the offence of cheating against PNB in connivance with certain bank officials by fraudulently getting the LoUs (letters of undertaking) issued and got the FLCs (foreign letter of credit) enhanced without following prescribed procedure".

The agency has filed three chargesheets against Choksi till now.

Nirav Modi, declared a fugitive economic offender, is lodged in a London jail after he was held by the authorities there in 2019 on the basis of a legal request made by the ED and the CBI in this case. He is contesting extradition to India.