Sebi bans Gitanjali Gems' Mehul Choksi from capital markets for one year with a fine

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Feb 1, 2022

Market regulator Sebi has banned diamond tycoon Mehul Choksi, who is accused of fraud, from capital markets for one year and has issued him with a fine for violating regulations. 

Sebi (the Securities and Exchange Board of India) has ruled that Choksi, along with director Rakesh Girdharlal Gajera, violated insider trading rules while trading Choksi’s jewellery business Gitanjali Gems, the Press Trust of India reported. The market regulator issued a joint fine of Rs 2.5 crore split between Choksi and Gajera, along with the one-year ban from any trading whatsoever. 
 
Neither Choksi nor Gajera are able to buy, sell, or deal in securities of Gitanjali Gems Ltd for a period of two years. Sebi also ordered Gajera to disgorge a sum of Rs 15.82 crore as part of the matter. Sebi found that Choksi had communicated ‘unpublished price sensitive information’ to Gajera to alert him to sell his entire shareholding in Gitanjali Gems before news broke of the fraud case involving the business. 

Mehul Choksi is accused of fraud at the Punjab National Bank totalling over Rs 14,000 crore, making it one of the largest-scale alleged frauds in India’s banking history. While Choksi’s nephew Modi is in jail in the UK attempting to appeal the UK court ruling to extradite him to India to stand trial, Choksi is believed to be in Antigua where he has taken citizenship.