The ED has filed a new chargesheet against Mehul Choksi, speeding up the extradition

New delhi date. 20 July 2020, Monday

The ED has filed a new chargesheet against fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi. It details how Mehul Choksi ran an organized racket to betray his clients and lenders in top financial institutions, including India, Dubai and the US, by selling lab-made diamonds and other assets.

The purpose of the chargesheet is to promote the extradition request made in March 2019 to send Choksi to India from Antigua and Barbuda under the United Nations Convention against Corruption. An official said the chargesheet was registered a few days ago on condition of anonymity.

According to a report, Mehul Choksi is the main accused in the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank scam along with his brother-in-law Nirav Modi. He has obtained citizenship under a citizenship program run by the governments of Antigua and Barbuda, which requires a certain amount of investment in the country to obtain citizenship.

According to investigators, Choksi fled India to avoid arrest, but Choksi's claim is different. According to Choksi, he left the country in January 2018 for bypass surgery, not to avoid arrest. The ED had earlier filed a chargesheet in 2018 to underline the role of Choksi and others in the PNB scam case.

A new chargesheet has been filed based on the statements of several top officials of companies based in the US, UAE, Hong Kong and India. The new chargesheet states that the diamonds produced in the lab were genuine with the help of Choksi's Hong Kong-based M / S Shanyo Gong Si Ltd, US-based M / S Voyager Brands and M / S Samuel Jewelers Inc. Diamonds were sold as counts. '

The chargesheet states that the diamond manufacturing company was operating in Surat and was producing on a large scale there. Choksi himself ran the company and oversaw the company's transactions. These diamonds also look similar in shape, quality and color compared to real diamonds, according to the report.