CBI Charges Four Customs Officials for Facilitating Export of Fake Gold Jewellery Valued at Rs 487 Crore

The CBI has charged four customs officials for allegedly facilitating the export of fake gold jewellery worth Rs 487 crore from Chennai airport. The officials reportedly accepted bribes to clear counterfeit items as genuine gold.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has charged four customs officials for allegedly aiding in the export of counterfeit gold jewellery worth Rs 487 crore from Chennai airport. This was done to claim customs duty refunds, with the officials reportedly receiving Rs 6.99 crore in bribes, according to sources on Wednesday.

Investigations revealed that exporters, in collaboration with customs officials at the Air Cargo Complex, fraudulently exported fake jewellery instead of genuine gold. The CBI's First Information Report (FIR) claims that these officials cleared the counterfeit jewellery as real gold after accepting bribes. The imported gold bullions from Gulf countries were sold domestically.

Customs Officials and Exporters Involved

The scam came to light in 2022 when the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) intercepted a suspicious consignment. Based on a DRI complaint, the CBI filed an FIR alleging that Superintendent J Suresh Kumar facilitated the export of 7,38,981.8 grams of fake jewellery made of copper and gold-plated, valued at Rs 299.52 crore.

Superintendent Alok Shukla is accused of facilitating fake jewellery exports worth Rs 38.87 crore, while appraiser N Samuel Deepak Avinash allegedly allowed exports valued at over Rs 149 crore. The DRI claims that one exporter revealed officials were paid Rs 50 per gram of fake jewellery cleared for export, totalling approximately Rs 5.99 crore.

Accused Individuals and Organisations

The CBI has booked these officials along with Customs Superintendent P Thulasi Ram. Additionally, four exporters and jewellers—Deepak Siroya, Santosh Kothari, Sunil Parmar, and Sunil Sharma—and Customs House Agent A Mariappan have been named as accused in the FIR.

The suspected jewellers exported counterfeit jewellery to benefit from customs duty refunds on imported gold. The scam involved clearing fake jewellery as genuine gold after receiving bribes from exporters.

This case highlights significant corruption within customs operations at Chennai airport. The investigation continues as authorities seek to uncover further details about this fraudulent scheme.

With inputs from PTI