Gitanjali Chief Tells Staff to Find New Jobs

RAPAPORT… Gitanjali Gems managing director Mehul Choksi has told the company’s employees to look for another job, as asset seizures have made it impossible to pay salaries, The Times of India reported.

Indian authorities are investigating Choksi (pictured) and his nephew,
fellow jewelry tycoon Nirav Modi, after Punjab National Bank claimed the pair
defrauded it of $1.8 billion. The executives colluded with a bank official to
obtain unauthorized loans, according to the state lender.

“I will face my destiny, and I know I have done nothing
wrong,” Choksi said in a letter to Gitanjali staff, which The Times of India reported on Saturday. He noted a “situation of fear and injustice”
affecting him and his firm, and expressed his “helplessness” to pay outstanding
salaries, as investigators have seized his bank accounts and other assets, the
report continued.

The jeweler’s 3,500 workers will get their money when Choksi proves his innocence and the situation returns to normal, the Mumbai-based
newspaper quoted him as saying.

“I am facing a lot of problems due to the manner in which
the multiple investigative agencies [and] government agencies have started to
create…havoc, hell-bent upon stopping the operations,” he added in the letter.
He fears for his and his family’s safety due to unfair investigations and media
coverage, he continued.

Choksi’s lawyer, Sanjay Abbot, who released the letter,
has “no idea” where his client is, according to the report. Abbot was
unavailable for comment to Rapaport News on Sunday.

India’s Enforcement Directorate is investigating about 144
companies associated with Choksi and Modi to assess whether the pair used any
of those firms to launder money, The Times of India reported the same
day.

The agency also froze a bank account and corporate shares
belonging to Modi, seized hundreds of luxury watches from a warehouse connected
to him, and started inspecting other expensive items at four apartments of his
in Mumbai, the report said.

Gitanjali’s shares fell 34% last week, and have slumped more
than 60% since the scandal broke two weeks ago.