Mehul Choksi claims innocence in PNB fraud with open letter

Agencies
February 25, 2018

Mumbai, Feb 25: Mehul Choksi, one of two businessmen allegedly involved in the Rs11,400 crore PNB fraud, broke his silence at the weekend with an open letter to employees claiming his innocence and telling them to look for other jobs.

Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi, both owners of jewellery store chains, are suspected of colluding with two employees from Punjab National Bank, the country’s second-largest state lender, in the alleged $1.8 billion fraud.

The businessmen are said to have been issued with illegal letters of undertaking (LoUs) from PNB over a seven year period, and to have used them to get loans from overseas branches of other, mostly Indian banks.

Choksi, who owns Gitanjali Gems, told employees he did not want anyone to suffer due to an association with him, but that he was in no position to pay their salaries and they were free to look for other opportunities until he could prove himself innocent.

“With recent false allegations levelled against me of defrauding the PNB Bank and media frenzy, the situation has gone grave, which is turning graver by the day,” Choksi wrote in the letter sent to employees on Friday.

The PNB fraud, which came to light earlier this month, has shaken confidence in state-run lenders and turned the spotlight again on India’s deep-seated corruption problem.

At least a dozen people—six from the bank and six more from Modi’s and Choksi’s companies—have been arrested and the investigation is still continuing.

Modi, who according to Forbes magazine has a net worth of some $1.8 billion, owns Firestar International and a chain of eponymous boutique stores from New York to Beijing.

On Saturday, authorities seized a farmhouse, a solar power plant and land that belonged to him.

Also on Saturday, Enforcement Directorate (ED), which fights financial crimes, said on Twitter it had taken possession of 21 other properties belonging to Modi worth Rs524 crore in the latest swoop in Mumbai and Pune.

Earlier in the week, ED said it had seized luxury cars worth millions of rupees belonging to Modi.

A lawyer for Modi has denied his client was involved in any fraud.

Choksi’s firm, Gitanjali Gems, has also denied involvement in the PNB fraud.

Separately, police on Thursday registered a case against a Delhi-based jeweller on a fraud complaint filed by Oriental Bank of Commerce, another state-owned bank, a police source said.

The lender has alleged the firm, Dwarka Das Seth International, cheated the bank with the help of some of its officials, using letters of credit (LCs) — a loan instrument similar to those used by Modi’s and Choksi’s firms in the alleged fraud.

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News Network
June 26,2020

New Delhi, Jun 26: Petrol prices in the national capital have reached Rs 80.13 per litre on June 26, up by 21 paise from yesterday’s Rs 79.92 per litre; while diesel prices in Delhi also rose to Rs 80.19 per litre – up by 17 paise compared to yesterday’s Rs 80.02 per litre.

This is the 20th consecutive day that fuel prices have been hiked by oil marketing companies (OMCs). The hikes began from June 8 after a 83-day halt on revised pricing during the lockdown period.

The state government’s increased value-added tax (VAT) on diesel since May is causing the fuel’s prices to soar in Delhi. VAT was increased to 30 percent for both petrol and diesel from 27 percent and 16.75 percent, respectively.

Coupled with the Centre’s hiked excise duty of Rs 3 per litre since March 14 and then Rs 10 per litre on petrol and Rs 13 per litre on diesel since May 5 has affected prices.

The hike on diesel prices is unusual, as the government traditionally keeps the price for the fuel low due to its impact on agriculture and other high consumption economic activities.

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News Network
March 4,2020

New Delhi, Mar 4: A court in Delhi on Wednesday convicted expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar of culpable homicide not amounting to murder in the death of the Unnao rape victim's father.

District judge Dharmesh Sharma said Sengar had no intention of killing the victim's father. “He was beaten in a brutal manner that led to his death,” the judge said.

The court had sent Sengar to jail on December 20 for the “remainder of his natural biological life” for raping the woman in 2017, when she was a minor.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had examined 55 witnesses in support of the case and the defence examined nine witnesses.

The court had recorded the statements of the rape survivor's uncle, mother, sister and one of her father's colleague who claimed to be an eyewitness to the incident.

Charges were framed against Sengar, his brother Atul, Bhadauria, sub-inspector Kamta Prasad, constable Amir Khan and six others in the case.

The case was transferred to Delhi from a trial court in Uttar Pradesh on the directions of the Supreme Court on August 1 last year.

In July, 2019 a truck rammed into the car the rape victim was travelling in with some family members and her lawyer.

Two of her aunts died in the incident. She was airlifted from a hospital in Lucknow and to AIIMS in Delhi.

The victim has been provided accommodation in Delhi and is under CRPF protection.

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News Network
May 12,2020

New Delhi, May 12: With 3,604 more COVID-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours, India's tally of coronavirus cases reached 70,756, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday. 87 deaths were reported during the period.

As per the tally, 46,008 patients are active coronavirus cases while 22,454 patients have been cured/discharged and one patient has migrated.

With 87 deaths due to COVID-19 reported in the last 24 hours, the number of deaths has risen to 2,293.

As per the ministry, Maharashtra has the most number of coronavirus cases with 23,401 cases with 4,786 patients being cured/discharged while 868 deaths have been reported in the state.

Gujarat is second on the list with 8,541 cases that include 2,780 patients recovering from the disease and 513 fatalities.

Tamil Nadu's tally reached 8,002 cases, including 2,051 recoveries and 53 deaths.

While Delhi's tally stands at 7,233 cases with 2,129 patients recovered and 73 deaths.

Meanwhile; Mizoram (one case reported--now recovered), Goa (seven cases reported and all seven recovered), Manipur (Two cases reported and both patients recovered) and Arunachal Pradesh (one case reported--now recovered) have reported no new cases in the last 24 hours.

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