Antigua, Sep 11: Fugitive diamond trader and Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam accused Mehul Choksi on Tuesday has put out a video saying that, "all the allegations leveled by ED are false and baseless."
The video comes a day after the Enforcement Directorate sent a reminder to Interpol about its application seeking a red corner notice against Mehul Choksi. Choksi, one of the men accused in the Punjab National Bank fraud case, was filmed making these comments in response to a question -- presumably a journalist's. The news agency ANI posted a 16-second video of the exchange on its Twitter page. Mehul Choksi was granted Antigua citizenship in November. He left India in the first week of January and took an oath of allegiance as a citizen of Antigua on January 15. Days later, on January 29, the CBI filed a case and started investigating Choksi and his nephew, celebrity jeweller Nirav Modi, over a Rs. 13,500 crore fraud that involved fake guarantees in the name of India's second-largest government bank PNB, or Punjab National Bank, to facilitate overseas loans. Choksi is the uncle of Nirav Modi, the billionaire jeweller who is also accused in the PNB fraud case.