Mehul Choksi Affirms Seized Goods Undervalued By ED - Vijay Aggarwal Advocate Filed Application

Diamond Merchant Mehul Choksi has claimed that seized goods by the Enforcement Directorate were “undervalued” and also expressed that these might have been changed with other goods.

Recently in Mumbai, the diamond merchant Mehul Choksi moved to the Bombay High Court for seeking revaluation and reinstatement of his assets seized by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). It came days after Gaston Alfonso Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, called Choksi "a law breaker" and named his removal "just a short time".

His application before the High Court states that there is no there is no reason behind why two enlisted government valuers will give radically extraordinary valuation of similar merchandise,"

Choksi, alongside nephew Nirav Modi, are needed in a supposed Rs 13,570 crore extortion caused to Punjab National Bank. While Choksi is accepted to be in the twin Caribbean islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Nirav Modi is held up in a jail in London, after he was captured by Scotland Yard in March.

As per the sources in probe agencies told that they would contest the thoughtless application which was filed by Mehul Choksi and also said that they were trying to delay defer the proceedings. A probe which was conducted by Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation the duo of nephew & uncle sold synthetic diamond. In the United States, an investigation requested by a its bankruptcy court observed that the diamond trader’s organization in the United States with Samuel Jewelers, might have sold wrongly certified lab-grown diamonds to the customers by treating them as the natural original stones.

As per the application seen, Choksi has claimed that the merchandise seized at his Hyderabad SEZ premises, pegged at Rs 103.08 crore by the ED, were underestimated. “It is presented that past valuation of Rs 3,840 crore was additionally made by an enlisted valuer and it is beyond the realm of imagination that the past valuer has made subjective valuation. Further, ED has not presented any valuation report and has not given any motivation behind why valuation was decreased," it said.

The diamond trader has additionally challenge that the stocks seized by the government organization asserting, "under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) just , 'continues of wrongdoing' can be seized and not any property, yet Enforcement Directorate has practiced its forces subjectively ... what's more, held onto stock obtained out of authentic source which isn't a wrongdoing".

Vijay Aggarwal Advocate filed the application where it is stated that good were valued by the Department of Custom but it never gave any notice that those were over-valued.

It further stated that the goods were also subject to special inspection by the government.