Regulator takes aim at owner of Ticino gold processor

Thu June 04 2026

The Indian stock exchange supervisory authority has accused the owner of the Ticino gold refinery Valcambi of massive accounting irregularities. The gold group Rajesh Exports had overstated its consolidated turnover by the equivalent of around 159 billion US dollars over several years, the authority announced in a provisional ruling.

In the opinion of the regulator, the company gave an "inflated and misleading picture" of its size and financial condition, according to the documents published on Wednesday. CEO and majority shareholder Rajesh Mehta was barred from trading in the company's shares until further notice. No statement was available from him.

The allegations weighed heavily on the share price. Rajesh Exports shares lost around 5 percent on Thursday, reaching the daily loss limit for trading on the Indian stock exchange. Since the beginning of the year, the share has lost more than 40 percent in value. The company is worth a good 300 million dollars on the stock exchange.

At the center of the investigation is the Swiss refinery Valcambi, which Rajesh Exports acquired in 2015 for 400 million dollars. According to the regulator, the majority of the Group's reported turnover comes from foreign subsidiaries, particularly from the Valcambi business. The authority criticized the fact that important financial information of the Swiss subsidiary and other Group companies had not been disclosed.

Among other things, the stock exchange supervisory authority is relying on the audited individual financial statements of Valcambi. These show significantly lower sales than those recorded at the level of the Group as a whole, it said. The supervisory authority sees this as an indication that the operational size of the Group may have been overestimated for years.

The investigation was initiated in 2024 following a complaint from a shareholder. The allegations are directed against Rajesh Exports and its management. The Indian regulator did not make any allegations against Valcambi itself in the ruling.

Source: https://www.bluewin.ch/