Fugitive diamantaire and Gitanjali Gems promoter Mehul Choksi, who is wanted in Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam on Tuesday said that all the allegations leveled against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are false and baseless.
Choksi made the remarks while reacting to a question by the news Agency ANI. The questions were asked to Choksi by his lawyer in Antigua.
Reacting to a question that the ED has accused him of setting-up Shell companies, Choksi said, "All the allegations leveled by the ED are false and baseless. They have attached my properties illegally without there being any bases of same."
When asked about his passport revocation, he said, "I did not receive any reply from passport office, further the Regional Passport Office did not give any reason as to how I was a security threat to India."
Choksi took the citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda last year and oath of allegiance to that country on January 15 this year after completing the nationality process, officials had said.
India has been trying hard to bring back Choksi from Antigua and Barbuda under the provision of a law of the island nation, which provides for extradition of a fugitive to a designated Commonwealth country.
The multi-crore scam was detected by the PNB officials earlier this year, after Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi had allegedly cheated the bank to the tune of two billion dollars, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.
Both the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are probing this case.
Recently, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also sent a reminder to Interpol about its application seeking a red corner notice against absconding jeweller Mehul Choksi.
Choksi is a diamond jewellery businessman and maternal uncle of Nirav Modi, the main accused in India's biggest financial scam running into over 2 Billion USD in Punjab National Bank.
The ED, a central probe agency under the union finance ministry, is investigating if the allegedly defrauded bank funds were laundered and proceeds of crime were subsequently used by the accused to create illegal assets and black money.
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