Choksi's Wife Charged with Money Laundering Offences
June 06, 22
(IDEX Online) - The wife of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi has been charged with money laundering offences.
Priti Kothari was "hand in glove" with her husband - who has been accused of a $1.8bn Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud - according to a supplementary charge sheet issued by India's Enforcement Directorate (ED).
It describes her as an "active participant and abettor" and and says she was the "ultimate beneficial owner" in a money laundering case involving three offshore companies in Dubai. She has been charged under the Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) Act.
"Priti Kothari was fully aware that all these companies were beneficially owned and controlled by Choksi who has defrauded PNB of more than Rs 6000 crore ($772m). She helped in the incorporation of the firms to acquire properties therein," says the charge sheet.
Choksi, 62, moved from India to Antigua and Barbuda in 2018, days before the PNB scandal broke.
Last May he disappeared from his new home and turned up in neighboring Dominica, where he was arrested for allegedly entering the country illegally. Those charges were subsequently dropped.
His nephew Nirav Modi, 52, is also charged in connection with the PNB fraud. He was arrested in London in March 2019 as India's most wanted man, and has been in prison ever since. He is battling extradition to India, claiming he is a suicide risk.
Screengrab of Mehuk Choksi from ABP