Court allows auction of Mehul Choksi’s assets worth Rs 2,566 crore in PNB scam
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Mumbai: A special court in Mumbai on Tuesday allowed the auction of fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi’s assets worth Rs 2,565.9 crore following a plea by some victim banks.
Along with his nephew Nirav Modi, Choksi is embroiled as the prime accused in the over Rs 13,000-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case.
The court issued the direction after Punjab National Bank and ICICI Bank sought for restitution of assets.
The court, according to the Enforcement Directorate, directed PNB and ICICI Bank to hold the proceeds of the auction as fixed deposits.
The central agency added that the process to hand assets worth more than Rs 125 crore to Choksi’s liquidator Gitanjali Gems Limited has been initiated.
The Enforcement Directorate said ‘The handed over properties include flats situated at Mumbai and two factories/godowns situated at SEEPZ Mumbai’, adding ‘Restitution of rest of the properties is also in progress.’
The controversial PNB fraud came out when the bank alerted the stock exchange BSE in February 2018 that “fraudulent and unauthorised transactions” to the tune of Rs 11,380 crore had been detected at a branch in South Mumbai.
It is reported that a few officials of the bank issued fraudulent Letter of Undertaking to Modi’s companies, incurring a loss of Rs 6,097.6 crore the bank.
Alongside, Choksi allegedly defaulted on another loan he had taken from ICICI Bank.
Mehul Choksi fled India for Antigua and Barbuda in January 2018 a couple of weeks prior to the fraud coming to light and secured the citizenship of the Caribbean country and subsequently the Indian government demanded for his extradition.
Meanwhile, Modi, currently in prison in the United Kingdom, is facing extradition proceedings.
