Investigators for India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have sent requests for assistance from authorities in Hong Kong, as they suspect that diamonds were imported from Hong Kong to India “with vastly-inflated fake invoices as part of a money laundering racket,” IDEX Online reports.
The scam may be far reaching as three customs officers at Mumbai International Airport and 14 individuals and companies are suspected of involvement in importing the diamonds from Hong Kong in June and July 2019.
According to the CBI, the gems were invoiced at Rs 156 crore ($20 million) “but their true value was just Rs 1 crore ($129,000).”
