No one knows where billionaire Nirav Modi emerged from. What is known is that when he came (back) to India, he cut his teeth in the diamond business under the tutelage of his jeweller uncle. Then he began to build a glittering international brand. Soon even Hollywood stars like Kate Winslet and Dakota Johnson were walking the red carpet showing off Nirav Modi jewels.
While PNB did not name the other lenders, Union Bank of India, Allahabad Bank and Axis Bank are said to have offered credit based on letters of undertaking (LOUs) issued by PNB. Foreign bank branches too are under investigation.
A special court here on Friday allowed 'restoration' of properties worth Rs 500 crore of fugitive jeweler Nirav Modi 's firms to Punjab National Bank (PNB). This is the third such order in a span of about two weeks, with the total value of properties owned by Nirav Modi's companies being restored in this manner now standing at approximately Rs 1,000 crore.
Once such a notice is issued against a fugitive, the Interpol asks its 192-member countries to arrest or detain the person if spotted in their countries after which extradition or deportation proceedings can begin.
Taking to Twitter, Gandhi posted, "The scamster's escape formula: La(Mo) + Ni(Mo) ---(with) Na(Mo)---> Bha(Go)", while using the hashtag "#ModiRobsIndia".
In its RCN issued against a fugitive, the Interpol asks its 192 member countries to arrest or detain the person if spotted in their countries after which extradition or deportation proceedings can begin.
The items which included a Porsche Panamera and a gold Cartier wristwatch were expected to fetch Rs 50 lakh.
The notice, which acts as an international arrest warrant, states that Purvi Deepak Modi, 44, is required on charges of "money laundering".
"Photographs (Nirav Modi Davos photo) mean nothing. Even you people are sitting with me and we being photographed and if somebody does anything will I be linked?" he told reporters.
The agency has written to the Interpol to issue a Red Corner Notice which would mean that the member countries of the Lyon-based international police cooperation agency can arrest and extradite Nirav Modi
PNB is fully committed to its clean banking policy. That is why we are the first one to detect and report this to the various law enforcement agencies," PNB's CMD Sunil Mehta said on Thursday.
Modi has been relentless in building his brand regardless of banks having a problem of fraudulent and unauthorised transactions with his companies.
The lawyer also claimed "there is no evidence to prove any of the charges levelled against my client."
The chargesheet, filed in a special court in Mumbai, also names several other top officials of the bank.
The common denominator: They were predominantly Gujarati, mostly male, and either related by blood or very well-known to Nirav.
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 US Department of Justice declined to comment on Modi.
The Income Tax Department on Tuesday also raided 20 premises linked to Gitanjali Gems promoter Mehul Choksi and suspected shell firms in connection with an alleged tax evasion case against them, official sources said.
The plea also sought a directive for the constitution of a committee of experts who would find the details of bad debt cases in the country.
The British home secretary has granted permission for jeweller Nirav Modi's extradition to India. During their arguments in a London court, his lawyers claimed Modi suffers from mental illness and is a suicide risk if he was sent to Mumbai's Arthur Road jail. A fascinating excerpt from Danish Khan and Ruhi Khan's Escaped: True Stories Of Indian Fugitives In London.
"Guide to looting India by Nirav Modi - - 1) Hug PM Modi 2) Be seen with him in Davos. Use that clout to: A) Steal 12,000 crore B) Slip out of the country like Mallya, while the government looks the other way," Congress chief Rahul Gandhi tweeted.
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.
It has also attached fresh 66 banks accounts, holding deposits of Rs 80.07 crore, of the Gitanjali group, owned by Modi's uncle Mehul Choksi.
The assets have been attached as part of five separate orders issued by the central probe agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, it said.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said that fugitive businessmen Vijaya Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi are "coming back" to India" to face the law.
The Singapore high court has put a freeze on deposits of $ 6.122 million following Enforcement Directorate's request on the ground that the money was "proceeds of crime" illegally siphoned off by Nirav Modi from the Punjab National Bank.
The PMLA court in Mumbai has sought their appearance on September 25 (Nirav Modi) and 26 (Mehul Choksi) respectively under the fugitive economic offender law.
Building a global brand was Choksi's idea, which Modi borrowed from him.
With a UK court ruling in favour of the extradition of fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, wanted in India on charges of fraud and money laundering in Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case, Mumbai's Arthur Road jail has kept a special cell ready to lodge him, an official said on Friday.
Wanted diamond merchant Nirav Modi appeared via videolink from his London prison for a regular call-over hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday, when he was further remanded in custody until February 25, when the judgment in his extradition case is to be handed down. District Judge Angus Hamilton informed Modi that he would most likely be appearing again via videolink on the day of the ruling, which will decide whether the 49-year-old jeweller has a case to answer before the Indian courts on fraud and money laundering in relation to the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case. Last month, District Judge Samuel Goozee had confirmed the timeline for the judgment at the end of closing submissions in the case, during which he heard that Modi is responsible for overseeing a "ponzi-like scheme" that caused enormous fraud to PNB.
The high court in London on Tuesday began hearing evidence from two leading experts in the field of psychiatry to determine the level of suicide risk faced by Nirav Modi if he is extradited to India to face charges of fraud and money laundering, amounting to an estimated $2 billion in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan scam case. Lord Justice Jeremy Stuart-Smith and Justice Robert Jay heard from Andrew Forrester, Professor of Forensic Psychiatry at Cardiff University, and Seena Fazel, Professor of Forensic Psychiatry at Oxford University, in the final stages of the extradition appeal being pursued by the 51-year-old diamond merchant. The two psychiatrists weighed up Nirav's level of depression, which could pose a "substantial" or "elevated" risk of suicide.
District Judge Samuel Goozee expressed his concern at the late submission of the documents, said to include largely bank statements relating to the diamond merchant's companies, but has agreed to consider the application for their submission.
Wanted diamond merchant Nirav Modi, whose extradition to India was ordered in April by UK Home Secretary Priti Patel in the estimated USD 2-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case, has lost the first stage of his extradition appeal in the high court in London.
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.
ED attached 21 properties of Nirav Modi and his group worth over Rs 523 crore.
During his stay in London, he was reportedly living in the heart of the city above his jewellery boutique called "Nirav Modi" on Old Bond Street, which was reportedly closed last week, The Sunday Times reported.
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.
Firestar Diamond, which on its website states that its operations span the US, Europe, the Middle East, the Far East and India, blamed liquidity and supply chain challenges.
The charges against the diamond merchant centre around his firms Diamonds R Us, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds making fraudulent use of a credit facility offered by the Punjab National Bank, known as 'letters of undertaking'.
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