ED seizes Rs 100 cr deposits, luxury cars of NiravModi, Choksi

Come up with implementable plan to repay dues: PNB to NiravModi

23/02/2018

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI, Feb 22: The ED today said it has frozen shares, deposits and luxury cars worth over Rs 100 crore of the Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi groups in connection with a money laundering probe against them in the Rs 11, 400-crore alleged PNB fraud.
Enforcement Direct orate officials said they have frozen mutual funds and shares worth Rs 86.72 crore belonging to Choksi and his group and Rs 7.80 crore owned by the Modi group. While the total value of these shares and mutual funds is Rs 94.52 crore, the costly four-wheelers are worth a few crores and hence the total seizure value stands to be over Rs 100 crore, the officials said.
The total seizure in the case is now Rs. 5,826 crore, which the agency has said is being independently valued. Choksi is Modi's uncle and promoter of the Gitanjali Gems group and other jewellery brands.
The central probe agency also seized nine high-end cars belonging to Modi during the raids that were launched against him and Choksi on February 15 under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The searches continued for the eighth day today. The seized car brands include a Rolls Royce 'Ghost', a Mercedes Benz, a Porsche Panamera, three Honda models, a Toyota Fortuner and an Innova.
Modi, Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple probe agencies after the fraud came to light recently following a complaint by the Punjab National Bank. The complaint alleged that they cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of Rs 11,400 crore, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.
The CBI and the ED have registered two FIRs each to probe the case. Both Modi and Choski are said to have left the country before criminal cases were lodged against them.
However, Scam-hit Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Thursday asked billionaire diamond jeweller NiravModi to come up with a concrete and implementable plan to settle the loss caused to it by fraudulent issuance of Letter of Undertakings (LoU) through one of its branches.
PNB said this in its response to a mail written by NiravModi, who allegedly cheated the bank of Rs 11,400 crore in connivance with a few bank officials.
"You were getting LoUs issued illegally and in an unauthorized way through few bank officials. At no stage such facilities were extended by our bank to your three partner firms," sources said citing mail response sent by PNB General Manager (international banking division) Ashwini Vats to NiravModi.
When the illegal activities of NiravModi surfaced, the bank brought them to the notice of the law enforcement agencies as they apparently violated FEMA and anti-money laundering law, sources said.
"Your commitment and undertaking for sparing of the total liability was not backed by providing upfront amounts and timelines. However, should you have any concrete and implementable plan, do revert back," the mail said.
NiravModi in his letter to the bank had said that the over-zealousness on the part of the bank to deal with the issue destroyed his jewellery brand and also jeopardised his ability to clear the dues.
"The erroneously cited liability resulted in a media frenzy which led to immediate search and seizure of operations, and which in turn resulted in Firestar International and Firestar Diamond International effectively ceasing to be going-concerns... This thereby jeopardised our ability to discharge the dues of the group to the banks.
"In the anxiety to recover your dues immediately, despite my offer (on February 13, a day before the public announcement, and on 15, your actions have destroyed my brand and the business and have now restricted your ability to recover all the dues leaving a trail of unpaid debts," Modi said in its letter to the bank.
The Rs 11,400 crore fraud perpetuated by Modi is being investigated by various investigative agencies including the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI.

Photo Gallery

BSE Sensex

NSE Nifty