Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached a flat in New York of fugitive diamond merchant Mehul Choksi’s daughter in law and his shares worth £1.1 million in a Japanese company, in lieu of the properties that he had purchased through defrauded Punjab National Bank (PNB) money but remained untraceable.
“It has been revealed during the investigation that huge amount of proceeds of crime (POC) generated in this case has been siphoned off by Mehul Choksi abroad…,” the ED said in its
supplementary chargesheet filed before the special court.
The chargesheet said, “It has been revealed during the investigation that huge amount of POC generated in this case has been siphoned off by Mehul Choksi abroad and the same was not available for attachment. Hence, the above detailed shares beneficially owned by Mehul Choksi representing property equivalent in value of proceeds of crime was attached. ”
The ED said that in 2015, Choksi transferred the £572,000 (flat value when he purchased it in 2010) in Manhattan, New York, to his daughter-in-law Snagdha Talreja. The flat was transferred in the name of Talreja’s company My Tree, 1211, LLC without any payment received by Choksi.
Choksi wife abettor in PNB case: ED
Calling her an “abettor of the crime” in a supplementary chargesheet filed in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case, the ED has submitted that fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi’s wife Priti Kothari had helped him in incorporating firms in UAE to acquire properties and in the layering of proceeds of crime. The ED alleged Priti was hand in glove with her husband in getting companies incorporated for him for laundering, siphoning of proceeds of crime and projecting them as untainted.
