Rajkot company incommunicado after Black Money name revelations

Ahmedabad, Oct 27: Top officials in the Shreeji Group in Rajkot have become incommunicado following revelations by the central government that an owner of the company held Swiss bank account/s.

The central government, in its affidavit to the Supreme Court Monday, named Pankaj Chimanlal Lodhiya, a bullion trader from Rajkot as the holder of accounts in a Swiss bank, among others.

According to the company's website, the Shreeji Group comprises Shreeji Trading Company, Shreeji Ornaments Pvt. Ltd. and Shreeji Realty.

The company initially forayed into the realty sector and later on ventured into the lucrative bullion business in 1997.

The group is run by Pankaj, his brother Kushik and their father Chimanlal Laljibhai Lodhiya.

Shortly after the news broke out from New Delhi, most of the important details were removed from the website, and a few telephone numbers elicited no responses at all.

However, Pankaj Lodhiya while reacting to some private television channels denied having any Swiss bank accounts, and claimed that he had disclosed everything to the Income Tax authorities. He said he was shocked to see his name coming in the government list and said he had no political connections.

Pankaj is the proprietor of Shreeji Trading Company, which deals in bullion. The Shreeji Group was initially into the real estate business in Gujarat and other states.

Shreeji Ornaments Pvt. Ltd. is engaged in manufacturing and trading of diamond and gold jewellery, silver articles and artefacts, and has branches in Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Jaipur, Raipur, Indore and Bengaluru with plans to expand operations in south India.

Shreeji Realty is into construction of residential buildings and the group cites its motto as 'Trust, Purity and Honesty' in business.

IANS