ED files chargesheet in PNB fraud against Mehul Choksi's wife, others

PTI

Mumbai, June 7

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a fresh chargesheet against absconding jeweller Mehul Choksi, wife Priti and others under the anti-money laundering law in connection with the over Rs 13,000-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan fraud case, officials said on Monday.

This is the first prosecution complaint filed by the federal agency against Choksi's wife Priti Pradyotkumar Kothari.

She has been charged by the ED with "helping her husband in layering of the proceeds of crime".

The chargesheet, filed under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), was placed before a special court in Mumbai in March and the court has taken its cognizance on Monday, the officials said.

Apart from the couple, the agency has named Choksi's three companies -- Gitanjali Gems Limited, Gili India Limited and Nakshatra Brand Limited -- and retired PNB deputy manager (Brady House branch, Mumbai) Gokulnath Shetty in the chargesheet.

This is the third chargesheet against Choksi after the ED filed the first two in 2018 and 2020.

The ED alleged that Priti was "hand-in-glove with her husband in getting companies incorporated for him for laundering and siphoning of proceeds of crime and utilising and projecting them as untainted.”

"She was aware of the source of monies which were being routed/siphoned by her husband illegally and fraudulently. She was abettor of the crime thereby, being actually involved in the laundering of proceeds of crime," the ED alleged.

It said Priti was the "ultimate beneficial owner" of three UAE-based company called Hillingdon Holdings Limited, Chating Cross Holdings Limited and Colindale Holdings Limited.

Choksi, Nirav Modi, their family members, employees, bank officials and others were booked by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2018 for perpetrating the alleged fraud in the Brady House branch of the PNB in Mumbai.

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