Mehul Choksi, who has fled the country along with his nephew Nirav Modi, is a defaulter of Rs 152 crore for Jammu and Kashmir Bank as he soon after taking the loan from the bank turned defaulter.
The Jammu and Kashmir Bank’s Fort branch Mumbai had sanctioned loan of Rs 121 crore to Mehul Choksi for ‘Gitanjali Gems’ in 2012.
"Mehul Choksi had taken a loan from the Bank for ‘Gitanjali Gems’ in 2012," a senior official of the bank said on Wednesday.
"Soon after he took the loan he turned defaulter and the bank didn't take any action against the officials who sanctioned the loan," he added.
The loan amount has risen to around Rs 152 crore in past six years including interest and penal interest. The official said that no action has been initiated in past six year against any of the official who sanctioned and approved the loan and no effort was made to recover it.
One of the biggest financial scams of the country surfaced when companies of Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi approached the PNB's Brady Road branch, Mumbai, in January this year seeking LoU for payments to suppliers.
Nirav Modi, the alleged kingpin behind the largest banking scam have been accused to have swindled Punjab National Bank (PNB) of over Rs11,000 crore ($1.77 billion).
The CBI has also registered two cases -- involving Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi -- pertaining to 150 LoUs worth Rs 6,498 crore and the second one involving 143 LOUs worth Rs 4,886 crore.
According to the reports, on Tuesday, the Enforcement Directorate conducted a search on the Mumbai residence of diamond merchant Nirav Modi and seized assets worth Rs 5,716 crore.
