Man in connection with money laundering case of Rs 500 crore surrenders

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Vijay Kothari, who was accused for illegally remitting foreign exchange equivalent to Rs 500 crore outside India through banks by submitting forged bills of entry and other documents surrendered before Hon'ble Special Court (PMLA) Mumbai. He had been absconding for the last two years and the Hon'ble Court has granted his custody to Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody till March 23, 2019.

Earlier Hon'ble Special Court had issued a non-bailable warrant against Kothari for his non-appearance thus issuing a Proclamation Order to declare him an absconder on October 30, 2017. Kothari was involved in the layering of funds by carrying out transactions through his five companies. He managed to illegally remit funds outside India through various banks.

ED initiated an investigation under PMLA based on an FIR registered by the Mumbai police against M/s Yogeshwar Diamonds Pvt. Ltd., M/s Shree Charbhuja Diamonds Pvt. Ltd., M/s Kanika Gems Pvt. Ltd for illegal remittance of foreign exchanges through IndusInd Bank, Opera House Branch in Mumbai. The accused had arranged foreign outward remittances by submitting forged bills of entry which resembled the original bills and asked Indusind bank to send foreign exchange remittances outside India to various companies in Hongkong to the tune of Rs.500 crores (approx.).

Four people, Anil Chokhara, running the above three companies, Sanjay Jain, Ex-Director of M/s. Raghukul Diamonds, Saurabh Pandit, Director of M/s Sky Light, M/s Link Fai & Companies based in Hong Kong and Machindra Khade, bank manager of a co-operative bank who had assisted in opening fake bank accounts to infuse funds into the banking system have been arrested by ED.

During the investigation, all the arrested accused have named Vijay Kothari as the mastermind behind the criminal activity of money laundering and fraudulent remittances of foreign exchange. Properties worth Rs 20 crores (approx.) involved in money laundering have been attached under PMLA. Further investigation is underway.

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