Fugitive diamond businessman Mehul Choksi, one of the main accused in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam, has been arrested in Belgium. Hariprasad SV, who exposed corruption a few hours after his arrest, reacted, “The money that Choksi has looted from India should be brought back and those who have cheated him should get their money back.”
Hariprasad said, “He will continue to try to run away from the grip of law. It is not just enough his arrest, but it is necessary to recover the money he has looted from India and the people are required to get compensation.”
Hariprasad revealed that at least 100 people were cheated by Choksi, and they themselves are also involved in them. He said that he had informed the concerned agencies on time with evidence, but still no concrete action was taken. He said, “Despite giving a lot of evidence, no action was taken, and I do not know why action was not taken till date.”
Choksi was arrested on the basis of extradition request sent by Indian investigative agencies CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED). Choksi is accused of joining the PNB loan scam worth Rs 13,000 crore. The matter came to light in 2018, when officials of PNB’s Mumbai-based Brady House branch officials were cheated by the 165 SeLOU (Letter of Undertaking) and 58 FLC (Foreign Letter of Credit) wrongly during March-April 2017.
CBI and ED have registered a case against Choksi, his company Geetanjali James, Nirav Modi, his family, bank officials and employees. According to the investigation, these people issued LOUs and FLCs without any sanctioned limit or cash margin with the connivance of bank officials and did not register them in PNB’s central banking system, so that no records remain and any investigation can be avoided in the case of default.
The CBI has so far filed two chargesheets against Choksi in the scam, while the ED has filed three prosecution complaints. Choksi’s nephew Nirav Modi was also arrested in London in 2019 and is currently in jail where he is fighting a legal battle to avoid extradition India. Choksi, who had been living in Antigua since 2018, recently went to Belgium due to health reasons. From there, he has now been arrested. The Government of India now hopes that it will be brought to India under the extradition process.
