N.W.T. diamond fiasco ends with fraud charges for Deepak Kumar

A man once touted as the saviour of Yellowknife's diamond cutting and polishing industry is now facing fraud charges.

Police allege Deepak Kumar misrepresented assets to obtain more than a million dollars in financing to purchase two abandoned diamond cutting and polishing plants from the Northwest Territories government in 2014.

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Kumar, the owner of Deepak International, is charged with fraud over $5,000, obtaining credit by fraud and creatingfalse statements to obtain financing.

In a statement on Wednesday, the RCMP said it's currently seeking a warrant for Kumar's arrest, but believe he is not currently in Canada.

At the time, Kumar promised the new venture would "put Yellowknife back on the global map in the diamond industry."

In fact, his diamondcutting and polishing plants never opened, and are now up for sale once again.

Email addresses and a phone number that CBC has for Kumar are no longer in service.

The Callidus connection

The charges are in connection with statements Kumar made to obtain financing from Toronto lender of last resort, Callidus Capital Corp.

Details of that financing emerged last year, when Callidus sued Deepak International, Kumar and his wife for not living up to the terms of the financing agreement. Callidus won a $4.5 million judgement against Deepak.

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To secure the financing to purchase the plants, Deepak offered up $10 millionworth of diamond cutting and polishing equipment he said he had. He showed Callidus a bill of sale for the equipment, but never showed the firm the equipment itself.

He said if he or Callidus opened the shipping containers that held the equipment without a representative of the manufacturer on hand, the warranty for the equipment would be voided.

When Deepak defaulted on the terms of the financing, Callidus attempted to seize the equipment. But when it opened the shipping containers Deepak said held them, all Callidus found was old office equipment.

A spokesperson for Calladus said the firm does not comment on details of its business activities.

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