PNB fraud: ED files charge sheet against Nirav Modi, associates

The Enforcement Directorate has filed its first chargesheet in the over $2 billion PNB fraud case involving diamantaire Nirav Modi and his associates, officials said on Thursday.

According to them, the 12,000-page ED chargesheet, or the prosecution complaint, has been filed before a special court here under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The criminal complaint has been filed against Nirav Modi, his associates and businesses and the entire gamut of issuance of fake Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) by Punjab National Bank (PNB) to his firms in alleged connivance of bank officials.

The ED chargesheet filed Thursday also details the attachments made by the agency against Modi and his associates in the last few months after it first registered an FIR in the PNB fraud case. It focuses on the money laundering aspect and the role of Nirav Modi and others in perpetrating the alleged fraud, a senior official said.

Earlier in May, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed two chargesheets in the PNB fraud case.

Nirav Modi, who is absconding and has not joined the ED probe in the case till now, and others are being probed under various criminal laws after the fraud came to light this year after PNB said they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of over Rs13,000 crore, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.

On 14 February, Punjab National Bank said it has detected a fraud worth $1.7 billion perpetrated by Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi using fake PNB letters of undertaking (LoUs). Both the accused had left India a month before the scam came to light. The ED is expected to file a second chargesheet against Choksi and his businesses.

PTI