MUMBAI: A special court on Wednesday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to rely on statements of 14 witnesses in a separate but connected case to prosecute fugitive diamantaire and Winsome Diamonds promoter Jatin R Mehta and others over an alleged ₹ 146.35-crore loss to Canara Bank.
Special judge Nitin V Jiwane permitted the CBI to include the statements of the 14 witnesses, recorded before a magistrate in 2018, in the charge-sheet in the present case, saying recording of their statements afresh would duplicate judicial time and effort. The CBI had sought the court’s permission to rely on statements recorded in a separate case registered in June 2016, based on a complaint by Canara Bank against Mehta, directors of Forever Precious Jewellery and Diamonds Ltd (FPJDL), Haytham Salman Ali Abu Obaidah who represented 13 UAE buyers, and others. The CBI’s charge-sheet was filed in June 2018 against Mehta, FPJDL, Abu Obaidah, Sonia Jatin Mehta, Suraj Mehta, Hasmukh L Shah and eight Canara Bank officers, among others. The prosecution is one of 16 CBI cases registered between 2014 and 2019 against Mehta, Winsome Diamonds and Jewellery Ltd, FPJDL and others on complaints by different bank consortium members. The court records the alleged fraud across the 16 cases at approximately ₹ 5,500 crore. In the present case, the 14 witness statements were recorded before an additional chief judicial magistrate court at Esplanade between April and August 2018.
The court order records that the competent authority of Canara Bank had declined sanction to prosecute its officials under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the trial court subsequently discharged the public servants.
That order has been challenged before the Bombay high court. The special CBI court directed the agency to supply copies of all the statements it is relying upon to the accused before the next hearing date.
