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Court allows ED plea to probe Nirav assets abroad
Taking its probe in the Nirav Modi scam out of the country, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) will soon send judicial requests to over a dozen countries for obtaining information about the overseas businesses and assets of diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi.
New Delhi: Taking its probe in the Nirav Modi scam out of the country, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) will soon send judicial requests to over a dozen countries for obtaining information about the overseas businesses and assets of diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi. The duo, involved in over Rs 11,400 crore PNB fraud, are on the run since the alleged scam came to light two weeks ago.
The ED has been allowed by a special court to issue Letters Rogatory (LRs) to six countries for obtaining information about the overseas businesses and assets of Nirav Modi in the fraud case. The central agency approached the special court set up under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Monday with the plea seeking issuance of LRs in the case. Judge M S Azmi allowed the ED application.
The ED, in its plea before the court, sought "issuance of LR under the PMLA for recovery/seizure of proceeds of crime and collection of documents, evidence lying in Hong Kong, the USA, the UK, the UAE, South Africa and Singapore which are required in connection with the investigation."
Letters Rogatory are a formal request from a court of a sovereign nation to a court of another sovereign nation for judicial assistance in a case.
The ED told the court that Nirav Modi established various firms, including Diamond R US, Solar Exports, Stellar Diamond, Firestar Diamond. "He spread his business operations in various countries, including Hong Kong, USA, UK, UAE, South Africa and Singapore. He had apparently got issued multiple high value Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) in favour of his firms/ companies from Punjab National Bank which resulted in disbursement of funds as per the SWIFT messages sent by PNB," the ED told the court.
This comes amid reports that 16 banks have been asked by the ED to give details of all the loans offered to Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, nature of the loans, and collateral offered against these loans. According to some estimates, total losses of these public sector banks could well swell up to over Rs 20,000 crore if the ED finds out 'bending of norms' in their cases too.
The attempt of sending these judicial requests for exchange of information is aimed at obtaining the details of the overseas financial holdings of Modi and Choksi, who are accused in the Rs 11,400 crore PNB loan fraud case, their bank accounts, assets, partnerships, showrooms, trusts and other assets, they said. Meanwhile, Modi, his wife Ami, and Choksi have been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to appear at its zonal office in Mumbai on Tuesday. Sources indicated that if they skip the summons, the agency may approach a special PMLA court to get non-bailable warrants against them.
