PNB scam: Accused Mehul Choksi speaks up, says allegations against him are 'false', 'baseless'
New Delhi, Sept 11 (IBNS): Fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi, who is an accused in the Rs. 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud, broke his silence on Tuesday, media reports said.
In an interview with ANI, Choksi termed all the allegations brought against him as "false and baseless".
Choksi has been quoted in the media as saying, "All the allegations labeled by the ED are false and baseless. They have attached my properties illegally without being any basis of the seen."
Diamond czar Nirav Modi, Choksi's nephew, is also accused in the case.
They left India in January, weeks before the massive bank scam surfaced.
In August, the Government had made an extradition request for Nirav Modi to the Indian mission in UK.
The request for his extradition has been sent by a Special Diplomatic Bag to the High Commission of India in London, VK Singh, Minister of State for External Affairs, had said in parliament.
Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi are being sought by multiple investigating agencies allegedly for extracting crores in loans from banks abroad on the basis of fake guarantees in the name of PNB, India's second largest state-owned bank.
India had cancelled the passports of both Choksi and Modi in February. But they kept travelling to various countries.
According to the reports of the investigating agencies probing the PNB scam, Nirav Modi possessed at least half-a-dozen Indian passports.
Mehul Choksi has already attained Antiguan citizenship. Antigua has said that it granted citizenship to him on the basis of an all-clear from the police and authorities in India.
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