PNB Fraud: Mehul Choksi's wife Priti named as 'beneficiary' by Enforcement Directorate

mehul choksi, pnb scam, pnb fraud, mehul choksi pnb — Image Source : PTI
PNB Fraud: Mehul Choksi's wife Priti named as 'beneficiary' by Enforcement Directorate

Highlights

Priti Choksi was named one of the 'beneficiaries' in PNB fraud case.
She has been charged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
ED had filed a fresh chargesheet against Mehul Choksi, his wife Priti and others.

The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday named Priti Choksi as one of the beneficiaries in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case. Preeti is the wife of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi. She has been charged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) with "helping her husband in layering of the proceeds of crime".

ED had filed a fresh chargesheet against Mehul Choksi, his wife Priti and others under the anti-money laundering law in connection with the over Rs 13,000-crore loan fraud case on Monday.

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 cognisance on Monday, the officials said.

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

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

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

It is understood that the agency will seek the extradition of Choksi's wife from Antigua, where the couple are based right now, and may also get notified a Interpol arrest warrant against her on the strength of this chargesheet.