Jignesh Shah wants Bombay High Court to quash CBI probes against him

Mumbai: Embattled businessman Jignesh Shah on Thursday said that he has filed an appeal at the Bombay High Court seeking to quash CBI’s FIR and to declare the searches by the central agency as illegal.

“Central agencies are being misled by vested interests who are trying to divert the attention from the truth getting established and prejudice the minds of investigating agencies and the ongoing judicial cases. “However, we’ve full faith in the judiciary and continue to believe that ultimately truth shall prevail,” 63 Moons Technologies chairman emeritus Jignesh Shah told reporters at Mumbai.

Shah moved the petition late last month in his personal capacity. “I stand tall, no agency has found anything against me,” Shah said and claimed that there is a “conspiracy against us” at the behest of the previous government. He said his petition will come up for hearing at the High Court soon. After a nationwide searches, in March this year, the CBI had registered a case against Shah, four former chairpersons of the now defunct Forward Market Commission and others for granting permission to MCX in 2003, even though it has not fulfilled the eligibility criteria and facilitated it to become a nationwide multi-commodity exchange status.

The CBI has also alleged that Shah and his former flagship company FTIL had illegally retained shares of MCX beyond the permissible limit of 26 per cent, deriving wrongful gain of Rs 137 crore by selling 26 lakh excess shares at Rs 1,032 a share. With regard to the gains made by FTIL, Shah said, “a parallel cannot be drawn for offloading MCX shares between private equity firms and the promoter of an exchange. PE firms such as Edelweiss Capital and FID Funds Mauritius had sold MCX shares at the face value of Rs 5 each, while FTIL had sold them at the face value of Rs 10. So, the comparison and calculation itself is absolutely wrong and is a convenient creation of CBI, he said.

He also claimed that as a promoter, FTIL had taken a most transparent and scientific process of price discovery through IPO. Shah further claimed that there was full compliance in the IPO which rested in the hands of Sebi and merchant bankers and not in the hands of FTIL and the FMC. Given this scenario, it is evident that CBI has been misguided by a few brokers and former FMC chairman, he said. “The CBI search was in connection with the matter of permission granted to MCX in 2003. But it is surprising as the permission was granted 15 years ago when the country did not have a pan-India commodity exchange,” Shah said, adding during the searches, CBI did not find any single incriminating material and document against him.

Commenting on the arbitration process in recovering the money by National Spot Exchange (NSEL), Shah said of the 24 defaulters, two have paid everything and three are under arbitration and the balance are in the court and the money recovery suits are already filed. Once liabilities are identified and quantified, the High Court will accept the report and decree process will start, he said. The EOW of the Mumbai Police has already attached the assets of several defaulters, Shah said, adding a time-line can’t be given for the process to complete, he said.