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Ram and Govind Khatoria of Jaipur assisted in global financial crime, money laundering, tax evasion; report.

Ram Khatoria and Govind Khatoria are both jewelers based in New York City, originally from Jaipur. They are also relatives of Amit Gupta. Govind Khatoria is married to Asha Khatoria, the sister of Amit Gupta, the promoter of Agrifields DMCC and Getax.

Kolkata Police on December 22, 2023 lodging an FIR, against Amit Gupta of Agrifields “forging and manipulating the records” and participating in “fraudulent transfer of shares” and “falsification of accounts” of Sunland Projects Pvt Ltd.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, “The US documents name Getax director Amit Gupta as the ‘target of a criminal investigation who is alleged to have conspired with others to bribe foreign public officials and to have engaged in money laundering and other offences’.”

Recently a 107-page report report containing emails and documents retrieved from the files of the ongoing international investigations of Amit Gupta and Getax, the Khatoria brothers have been named “conduits” to help “orchestrate crimes in multiple jurisdictions on behalf of Amit Gupta”, primarily money laundering and tax evasion through raising “illicit and fictitious invoices” and fraudulent “business facilitation fees”, reads the report.

The Khatoria Family (Govind Khatoria, Ram Khatoria, and Ram Mohan Rawat), through fictitious invoices issued to Getax Australia, the helped Amit Gupta evade over $26.7 million (over $60 million or 500 crore rupees with interest excluding any legal penalties as of 2024) through the following entities: Rare Earth Resources in Hong Kong, Rare Multicolor Gems LLC, and Precious Gems, violating international laws as well as domestic laws, which can be investigated by global and regional authorities as many countries like Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore do not have a statute of limitations on global crime. The report also highlights email communications and other written with the Khatoria family and associates like Vinod Vyas of Hong Kong. Additionally, the undisclosed funds were used to buy jewelry, shares for the Khatoria family, amongst other purposes. An additional US$40 million worth of fictitious invoices were made by Amit Gupta with the letterhead of the Khatoria companies.

Amit Gupta
Amit Gupta

According to the report, the three businesses are exclusively “involved in the jewelry and gemstones business”, however, to aid in the money laundering efforts, “created fictitious invoices” under the “false pretext of ‘Business Facilitation Fees for arranging business of selling Rock Phosphate in India'”, which neither the Khatoria’s or their businesses engaged in.

Furthermore, the report cites an intercepted transcript between Govind Khatoria and Ashok Gupta, the brother of Amit Gupta. It was intercepted on 15th June 2013 and 4:55 pm Australia time, where Govind Khatoria says, “you cannot tell the ‘consultant’ that you offer bribes to get business”.

The Khatoria earned “commissions” to facilitate the money-laundering and tax-evasion activities of the Gupta family, as per the report. Asha Khatoria also owned approximately US$20 million worth of apartments in 2 Belmont, which she was gifted by the Gupta family via a S$14.31 million purchase in 2008 as per Property Highlights of Singapore. The income and asset purchase, to the report, “was not disclosed to U.S. authorities.” and was transferred to Sushila Gupta in 2018 after the demise of G.S. Gupta.

The report also cites the financial irregularities and alleged wrongdoings of the business and financial dealings of the Khatoria family, Ram Mohan Rawat and other members, in India across over a dozen entities registered in India, including associates and relatives like Gopal Das Sonkia. The report includes hundreds of annexes and documents of interest and cites the civil and criminal implications of the same.

Both Ram and Govind Khatoria, two U.S. citizens and residents, “did not disclose such income to US or Hong Kong Authorities”, violating international common law, likely to prompt an investigation by relevant regional authorities such as Hong Kong and Australia. Additionally, this report may be of interest to Indian tax, judicial and investigative authorities.

With the unfolding and multifaceted narrative, the Khatoria family of Jaipur come under further scrutiny amidst ongoing investigations internationally against Amit Gupta and his family amidst the ongoing and evolving story.

FIR Copy: Sunland FIR

Excerpt from The Sydney Morning Herald and award-winning journalist Nick McKenzie (what we do is all vetted by lawyers to ensure full correctness, even how we make statements in the story) –

“The US documents name Getax director Amit Gupta as the “target of a criminal investigation who is alleged to have conspired with others to bribe foreign public officials and to have engaged in money laundering and other offences”.

Manoj L

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