The High Court of Justice in London has rejected a fresh bail petition filed by diamantaire Nirav Modi, who is wanted in India in connection with the Rs 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.
A court in Antwerp on Friday cleared the extradition of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, noting that his arrest by the Belgian authorities on India's request was valid, officials in the know of the development said.
The bail plea of fugitive diamonds trader Mehul Choksi, wanted in India in connection with over Rs 6300-crore fraud in the Punjab National Bank (PNB), has again been turned down by a court of appeal in Belgium, just ahead of his extradition hearing before a court in that country, officials said. The court rejected the appeal on strong reasons conveyed by the CBI to the Belgian prosecution that Choksi had escaped from many jurisdictions earlier as well to evade legal proceedings and may flee to another country if let out on bail, they said.
Absconding diamond jeweller Mehul Choksi has been detained in Belgium following an extradition request by Indian probe agencies for his alleged involvement in the Rs 13,000 crore PNB bank loan 'fraud' case, official sources said Monday. The action against the diamantaire was taken on Saturday.
Nehal Modi, the younger brother of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, has been arrested in the US based on extradition requests from the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI.
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The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday said it has attached fresh assets worth Rs 29.75 crore of fugitive diamond trader Nirav Modi under the anti-money laundering law. A provisional order has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach these assets that are in the form of bank deposits, land, and buildings, it said in a statement.
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Both Purvi Deepak Modi and Neeshal Modi are accused in the $2-billion scam allegedly orchestrated by their elder brother Nirav Modi and uncle Mehul Choksi in Punjab National Bank, they said.
The ED has filed a fresh chargesheet against absconding jeweller Mehul Choksi, his wife Priti and others under the anti-money laundering law in connection with the over Rs 13,000-crore PNB loan fraud case, officials said on Monday. This is the first prosecution complaint filed by the central agency against Choksi's wife Priti Pradyotkumar Kothari. She has been charged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) with "helping her husband in layering of the proceeds of crime".
Companies owned by fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi have allegedly siphoned off over Rs 6,344.96 crore from the Punjab National Bank (PNB) using fraudulent letters of undertaking and foreign letters of credit, a CBI investigation into the scam has detected. The findings were submitted by the CBI in a supplementary chargesheet filed before a special court in Mumbai last week, where the agency said the PNB was conned by its employees who were allegedly hand in gloves with Choksi and his company executives and who facilitated the scam as part of a criminal conspiracy. The PNB officials at the bank's Brady House branch in Mumbai issued 165 letters of undertaking (LoUs) and 58 foreign letters of credit (FLCs) during March-April 2017, against which 311 bills were discounted.
The Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth over Rs 14 crore belonging to the Gitanjali Group and its promoter and jeweller Mehul Choksi, one of the prime accused in the alleged over Rs 13,000 crore PNB loan fraud case. The properties attached, under the anti-money laundering law, include a flat measuring 1,460 sq feet located at O2 Tower in Goregaon area of Mumbai, gold and platinum jewellery, diamond stones, necklaces made of silver and pearls, watches and a Mercedes Benz car, the ED said in a statement. A provisional order for attachment has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for the assets worth a total Rs 14.45 crore that are in the name of Gitanjali Group of companies and its director Mehul Choksi, it said.
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The Enforcement Directorate Friday said it has attached gems, jewellery and bank deposits worth Rs 253.62 crore of some Hong Kong-based companies of fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi as part of a money laundering probe. Some assets of Nirav Modi group of companies in Hong Kong were identified in the form of gems and jewelleries lying in private vaults and bank balances in accounts maintained there and these have been provisionally attached under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the federal probe agency said in a statement. The amount kept in banks amounts to $30.98 million and Hong Kong dollars 5.75 million, which is equivalent to Rs 253.62 crore (as on July 22, 2022), it said.
The CBI on Wednesday directed him to contact the embassy of India in a country where he is staying so that his travel to India can be arranged
Bank provides for Rs 7,178 crore, or 50 pf of the total amount of the Rs 14,356 crore scam, in the fourth quarter of 2017-18. The remaining amount will be covered in the three quarters of the current fiscal year.
The agency has so far seized diamonds, gold jewellery and other precious stones worth Rs 5,716 crore in the case and summoned Modi and Choksi, the promoter of Gitanjali Gems, to appear before it on February 23 at its Mubai zonal office.
He escaped the country in the first week and took the oath of allegiance in Antigua on January 15
The legal procedure of extradition of an accused takes its own time and Indian investigators, both from the CBI and ED, are tracking the case.
The Reserve Bank of India also banned with immediate effect issuance of letters of comfort which, like LoUs, are used by importers to fund their overseas purchases.
Nirav Modi, along with his wife Ami Modi, a US citizen, brother Nishal Modi, a Belgian citizen, and uncle Mehul Choksi, all accused in the CBI's FIRs in the case, left the country in the first week of January, weeks before country's biggest banking scam surfaced.
Official sources said while the accounts of Nirav Modi, the diamantaire under arrest in this case in London, have deposits of $3,74,11,596 (Rs 258 crore) while the accounts in the name of his sister Purvi Modi has deposits of 27,38,136 (Rs 24 crore).
The Income Tax Department had last month auctioned several art works that were owned by absconding diamond merchant Nirav Modi for Rs 59.37 crore.
The I-T department also attached 34 bank accounts and fixed deposits, valued at Rs 1.45 crore, of the Gitanjali group.
About 40 per cent of the money lost by banks in the PNB scam and the fraud linked to fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya's defunct Kingfisher Airlines has been realised by way of sale of shares seized under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the Enforcement Directorate said on Wednesday.
The notice, which acts as an international arrest warrant, states that Purvi Deepak Modi, 44, is required on charges of "money laundering".
The CBI has filed a fresh case against absconding diamantaire Mehul Choksi, wanted along with his nephew Nirav Modi in a loan fraud case of Rs 13,500 crore, for allegedly inflating the value of diamonds and jewellery pledged to get Rs 25 crore loan from IFCI, officials said on Monday. The CBI has booked Mehul Choksi, his company Gitanjali Gems and valuers Surajmal Lallu Bhai and Co, Narendra Jhaveri, Pradip C Shah and Shrenik Shah, they said. The central agency has acted on a complaint from Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) Ltd alleging that Choksi had approached it in 2016 seeking Rs 25 crore working capital loan for which he had pledged shares and gold and diamond jewellery.
However, the Indian capital markets regulator rejected the claim saying it neither received any such request, nor provided any such information to the concerned department in Antigua.
It further asked the government to make suitable arrangements for smooth functioning of the bank.
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ED said the United Kingdom's home secretary recently referred India's request for extraditing the tainted businessman to a court for initiating legal proceedings against him.
Choksi is wanted in India by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, which are probing the PNB fraud, the biggest banking scam in the country. India continues to pursue Choksi's return with the government of Antigua through diplomatic and legal channels.
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The US Department of Justice declined to comment on Modi.
PNB issued a formal appointment letter to Belgium-based consultancy firm BDO
'PNB had confirmed compliance with the RBI's prescription in its circular of August 3, 2016, which has now turned out to be factually incorrect,' Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla said in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
ICAI intends to investigate the chartered accountants of PNB but the bank allegedly refuses to give the information sought.
US President Barack Obama dropped in on a briefing for college journalists on Thursday at the White House.
Choksi has appealed to the Interpol to not issue an RCN against him as the charges are politically motivated, officials said
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