PNB Fraud: ED Attaches Mehul Choksi’s Properties Worth Rs 1,200 Crore

The Enforcement Directorate today said it has attached 41 properties, valued at over Rs 1,200 crore, in connection with its money laundering probe against Gitanjali Gems Ltd. and its promoter Mehul Choksi in the Punjab National Bank scam.

The investigation agency issued a provisional order for attachment under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The attached assets include 15 flats and 17 office premises in Mumbai, a mall in Kolkata, a four-acre farm house in Alibaug and 231 acres of land at locations like Nasik, Nagpur, Panvel and Villupuram in Tamil Nadu. A 170-acre park in Hyderabad's Ranga Reddy district valued at over Rs 500 crore has also been attached, it said.

Four flats in Borivali (East) area of the Maharashtra capital and nine others in Khemu Towers in Santacruz (East) have been attached as part of the action.

"The total value of the 41 seized assets controlled by Choksi is estimated at Rs 1,217.2 crore," the Enforcement Directorate said.

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Choksi and designer diamond jewellery businessman Nirav Modi and others are being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate and other agencies after the bank fraud recently came to light, following a complaint by the Punjab National Bank that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of Rs 12,000 crore, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.

The Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate have registered two first information reports each in the case. Both Choksi and Modi are said to have left the country before criminal cases were lodged against them. They have, however, denied any wrongdoing.

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