He accused the ED of deliberately painting a negative picture of him.
Mehul Choksi, the diamantaire accused in the PNB scam, has told a special court that his health does not permit him to take a 41-hour flight to India to take part in the investigation. He offered to take part in the probe over videoconferencing.
In a filing on Monday to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) special court hearing the ED’s application to have him named a ‘fugitive economic offender’, Choksi accused the ED of deliberately omitting its full correspondences with him, in which he claimed to have offered to settle all dues. He also said he had been in touch with other parties involved in a bid to sort out the situation.
“It is clear that the same is nothing but a deliberate attempt on the part of the ED to mislead this Honourable Court by not placing on record all the relevant material for the consideration of this court but only placing on record selective material and information in order to mislead this court,” read a plea filed by Choksi’s lawyers, The Indian Express reported.
Choksi also told the special court that the ED had deliberately not mentioned his health troubles while going about its probe, giving the impression that he had fled the country with a goal to defraud the banks.
Choksi is accused of cheating Punjab National Bank to the tune of Rs 13,000 crore, allegedly in collusion with his nephew Nirav Modi. He has been named in chargesheets in separate cases filed by the CBI and the ED. Choksi is accused of benefitting from fraudulent transactions to issue Letters of Understanding (LoUs).
He had left India in January 2018 for Antigua and Barbuda, in the West Indies. He had acquired citizenship to the island nation in November 2017, through a citizenship-by-investment programme.
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