Mehul Choksi, one of the two businessmen allegedly involved in perpetrating India's biggest ever banking fraud, Wednesday said he was not a partner in any of the firms under scrutiny for the scam, claiming he had quit them in 2000.
In a statement issued by his lawyers, the raids against him were on the basis of "an old and dated 'Know Your Customer' (KYC) document" submitted by him to the Punjab National Bank in 1995.
"Mr Choksi had sought to correct the details of this KYC on several occasions. He was not a partner in any of the firms under scrutiny for the purported scam being investigated at that time. In fact, Mr Choksi had quit all these firms way back in 2000," it said.
He said he was presently not able to repay loans because of the asset freeze orders.
His lawyers said he didn't just write to PNB to correct the KYC record but made representations to the National Stock Exchange and the BSE as well on February 7, 2018.
"The same representation was repeatedly made to the Central Bureau of Investigation as well, but in vain," the statement said.
In the 25 years of the business, Gitanjali Gems did not default on its loan repayments even once, it said adding a loan exposure of Rs 6,000 crore was easily serviceable for the company with a top line of over Rs 12,000 crore.
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