PNB fraud: ED attaches assets worth Rs 637 crores of Nirav Modi

Updated: Monday, October 1, 2018, 15:29 [IST]

New Delhi, Oct 1: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday attached properties and bank accounts to the tune of Rs 637 crore in Nirav Modi case.

The seizure includes jewellery/bank accounts/immovable properties in India as well as four foreign juridictions under section 5 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The is one of the rare cases where the investigation agency has seized the properties abroad.

PNB fraud: ED attaches assets worth Rs 637 crores of Nirav Modi — Nirav Modi

Two immovable properties having total value of USD 29.99 Million (Rs 216 Crores Approx) and beneficially owned by Nirav Modi in New York, have also been attached by Enforcement Directorate under section 5 of Prevention of Money laundering Act.

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''5 overseas bank accounts belonging to Nirav Modi having balance of total Rs 278 Crores also attached by ED. Diamond studded jewellery worth Rs 22.69 Cr has brought back to India from Hong Kong. A flat in South Mumbai worth Rs 19.5 Crore also attached,'' it said.

The beneficial owners of these deposits have been identified as Purvi Modi and her husband Maiank Mehta, the ED said. Five other overseas bank accounts, holding Rs 278 crore, have been attached and they belong to Nirav Modi, Purvi Modi and their controlled firms, it said.

"During investigation it was found that most of the money was transferred to these accounts after FIRs were filed in this scam," the agency said. A Rs 19.5 crore worth flat in a tiny locality of south Mumbai, owned by Purvi Modi, has also been attached as part of this order, it said.

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.

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Nirav Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi and others are being probed under various criminal laws after the fraud came to light this year following a complaint by the Punjab National Bank (PNB) that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of over Rs 13,000 crore, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.