PNB fraud: ED attaches Rs 637 crore assets of Nirav Modi, family in 5 countries
The Enforcement Directorate on Monday attached properties and bank accounts worth Rs 637 crore of absconding jeweller Nirav Modi and his family.
The assets have been seized in India and four other countries including UK and USA.
The assets seized include diamond studded jewellery worth Rs 22.69 crore which has been brought back to India from Hong Kong, a flat in South Mumbai worth Rs 19.5 crore, and two immovable properties having a total value of US $29.99 million (Rs 216 crores approximately).
Besides this, the ED also attached five overseas bank accounts belonging to Nirav Modi with a total balance of Rs 278 crore.
The ED has attached the properties and bank accounts of the fugitive diamantaire under section 5 of the Prevention of Money laundering Act.
The assets have been attached as part of five separate orders issued by the central probe agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), it said.
Enforcement Directorate attaches attaches properties and bank accounts to the tune of Rs 637 crore in Nirav Modi case. pic.twitter.com/Gsz6MFWq4O
— ANI (@ANI) October 1, 2018
The agency, a senior official said, also got issued an Interpol Red Corner notice (global arrest warrant) against Aditya Nanavati, an accused in the same case, on charges of money laundering.
There are only very few cases where Indian agencies have attached assets abroad in a criminal probe.
Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are the main accused in the case where it is alleged that the two diamond jewellery businessmen allegedly duped and defrauded the Brady House branch of the Punjab National Bank in Mumbai for an amount of US $2 billion (about 13,000 crore) in purported connivance with bank officials.
(With inputs from PTI)