CBI sends judicial request to Hong Kong in Rs 156 crore diamonds over-inflated invoices

In a massive breaking, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sent a judicial request to Hong Kong and has sought assistance in its probe into a racket that allegedly imported diamonds with inflated invoices worth Rs 156 crore to camouflage its money laundering activities, officials said. 

CBI sends judicial request to Hong Kong in Rs 156 crore diamonds over-invoicing case

Seeking details about transactions and accounts flagged during the probe, the central agency has dispatched the letters rogatory (LR), a judicial request, to the Secretary for Justice, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. At first, CBI approached the Home Ministry with its application for the go-ahead for sending the LR. After getting the permission, the application was submitted to a special court in Mumbai which had ordered the issuance of the LR under Section 166 A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC)-- which states a letter of request competent authority for investigation in a country or place outside India.

In January 2020, the agency booked 17 individuals and companies, including three Mumbai-based senior Customs officials, for allegedly being part of a money-laundering racket and for using over-invoiced import of diamonds worth over Rs 156 crore. The diamonds were imported to India from Hong Kong, hence the CBI sought assistance from its law enforcement agencies to collect the required information, they said.

The agency refused to provide details of the information sought by it as it may hamper its probe ao the case was then referred to the CBI after a Directorate of Revenue Intelligence probe found the alleged involvement of Customs officials in the conspiracy, they said.  The DRI probe alleged that Hong Kong-based businessman Girish Kadel had imported rough diamonds from Switzerland to Hong Kong in the name of his four companies.

In the name of two companies-- Antique Exim Pvt Ltd and Tanman Jewels, Kadel exported some of these diamonds to India through 14 consignments showing an over-invoiced value of Rs 156.28 crore. During DRI's revaluation, the actual value of the consignments appeared to be Rs 1.03 crore.

The CBI investigation so far has shown that Kadel allegedly used importer­exporter codes (IECs) of Antique Exim Private Limited and Tanman Jewels Private Limited through his aide Atul Paldecha for siphoning off the money outside India through the import of overvalued goods. As per CBI, after the revaluation of these 14 consignments of rough diamonds, it was found that their actual value was Rs 1.21 crore against the declared value of Rs 156 crore during June 2018.

(With PTI Inputs)

(Image: PTI)