PNB fraud: Gitanjali Gems tanks 5% as ED attaches Rs 12 bn assets of Choksi

This is the 12th straight session of fall for the stock. It has lost as much as 65.35% since February 14

Shares of Gitanjali Gems plunged further on Thursday and settled with losses of over 5 per cent after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said it has attached 41 properties, valued at over Rs 12 billion, in connection with the PNB case.

Shares of the company slumped to its lower circuit limit, down 5 per cent, to hit a 52-week low of Rs 20.30.

This is the 12th straight session of fall for the stock. It has lost as much as 65.35 per cent since February 14, the day the PNB fraud came to light.

On the NSE, the stock was quoted at Rs 20.25, down 4.93 per cent at the end of today's trading session.

Shares of Punjab National Bank settled marginally down at Rs 101.00 on the BSE. On NSE, the stock settled for the day at Rs 100.80, down 0.59 per cent.

The ED today said it has attached 41 properties, valued at over Rs 12 billion, in connection with its money laundering probe in the PNB scam against Gitanjali Gems and its promoter Mehul Choksi.

It also examined Punjab National Bank's Managing Director and CEO Sunil Mehta at its zonal office in Mumbai today.

The individuals and companies, the agency order said, who own these assets include Mehul Choksi, Rohan Parth, Gitanjali Exports Corporation, Gitanjali Gems Limited, Decent Securities and Finance Pvt Ltd, N&J Finstock Pvt Ltd and Rohan Mercantile Pvt Ltd among others.

The agency, last week, had similarly attached 21 immovable assets worth Rs 5.23 billion of diamond jewellery businessman Nirav Modi and his group.

Nirav Modi and his uncle Choksi and others are being investigated by the ED, CBI and other probe agencies after the bank fraud recently came to light, following a complaint by the PNB that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of over Rs 120 billion, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.