Rs 1,000-Crore Gold Export Scam: CBI Files FIR, 5 Chennai Airport Customs Officials Among 13 Booked

The Central Bureau of Investigation filed a first information report against 13 people in connection with a case involving a nexus of alleged collaborators who defrauded the Union government of Rs 1,000 crore every year from 2020-2022.

According to the testimony of the investigators, the conspirators used the Duty-Free Import Authorisation Scheme to import 24-carat gold bars which are meant to be converted into 22-carat ornaments for re-export, under the scheme. But instead, they allegedly exported brass and copper jewellery with gold plating, selling second-rate ornaments while embezzling the difference. This caused major losses for the exchequer.

The FIR was registered against five Chennai airport customs officials, a jewellery appraiser, a customs agent and four jewellery makers, according to reports on Tuesday.

The manufacturers were named to be Santosh Kothari, Sunil Parmar, Sunil Sharma and Deepak Siroya. The jewellery assessor was identified as N Samuel. And three of the customs officials are J Sureshkumar, Alok Shukla, and P Tulasiram, according to reports.

The fraud was first detected in 2022 when the central revenue intelligence found irregularities in lading bills and consignments being shipped to Gulf countries. After the goods were inspected the fake ornaments were discovered.

Sanctions to prosecute Customs officials created a delay in the case. The CBI carried on with the investigation after receiving sanction from the Union administration.

After registering the case, the CBI's teams searched Chennai Airport Customs Cargo Office, homes of Customs officials in Pallavaram, Alandur, Nanganallur, and Anna Nagar, as well as jewellery shops and manufacturers' offices in Flower Bazaar, Sowcarpet, and Kondithope.

They examined the XRF spectrometer used to test gold purity at the cargo terminal and got hold of the incriminating documents.

The investigators indicated the more names in connection to the scam may surface and it may be one of most high-profile financial crimes connected to airport cargo operations in India.