Even as a CBI team brought him to Mumbai from Ahmedabad to fly him to Goa, Rajesh Adani managed to get interim bail from the Gujarat High Court and returned to Ahmedabad on his private jet.
The CBI, early on Saturday, arrested Adani, the managing director of Adani Enterprises Ltd for
evading duty of Rs 1.07 crore at Goa port in 2005-2006.
The CBI arrested Adani from his residence in Ahmedabad. After his arrest, Adani was also taken to Gandhinagar Civil Hospital when he complained of restlessness.
But he managed to get interim bail even before the CBI could fly him to Goa for investigation. The Goa wing of the CBI’s anti-corruption branch had registered a case against Adani Exports on April 25, 2008.
Ten Goa customs officials, Ganesh Benzoplast Limited, and a Goa-based customs house agent (CHA) firm, J. A. F. Leitao and Sons have also been named in the FIR.
Joint Director of CBI, West Zone, Rishi Raj Singh confirmed the arrest. The CBI said Adani’s company undervalued the naphtha and furnace oil during the import to evade customs duty.
Two of the ten custom officers named have retired. The CBI, which raided premises of the ten customs officials, is likely to arrest them soon.
Adani’s company, in its statement, said: “Till date, no show cause notices / cases have been registered by the customs department against the company or Rajesh Adani ... Today, (February 27) CBI has issued an arrest memo for Rajesh Adani without providing any reasons.”
The statement said Adani was not responsible for day-to-day business operations and it also blamed its license holders for not paying the duty.