A circular from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from the 21st of May 2014, states the then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, on the 16th of May 2014, signed an order that allowed 13 companies to import gold under the 80:20 scheme. One of the accused of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam, Mehul Choksi’s Gitanjali Gems was one of the companies from the lot. It is said Gitanjali Gems imported at least 400 Kgs of gold under the scheme then.
The 80:20 scheme was started by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government and RBI as an import restriction on those importing gold. The importer was allowed to import gold only after he exported 20% of gold from the previous consignment. Chidambaram signed the order on the day the general election results were announced and UPA lost its power. This raises several questions on the links between the UPA Government and Mehul Choksi.
