Nirav Modi jewellery has been worn to the Oscars too!
A special court here has allowed the release of properties worth Rs 66.33 crore, owned by fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi and his sister Purvi Modi and attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the multi-crore PNB fraud case.
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.
The valuables include polished diamonds, pearls and silver jewellery and are worth Rs 1,350 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 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.
ED team managed to get several bank statements from Barbados, Dubai, Hong Kong etc. which prove vital overseas link and money trail relating to Nirav Modi and his aides.
The actor had appeared in the a TV commercial for the brand along with Sidharth Malhotra.
Wanted diamond merchant Nirav Modi on Thursday lost his fight against being extradited to India as a United Kingdom judge ruled that he can be sent back to face charges of fraud and money laundering in the estimated $2 billion Punjab National Bank scam case.
The judge fixed April 26 as the next date of hearing when he will appear via video link from jail.
'It could take at least a couple of years for his case to go through the entire run of the British judiciary.'
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.
Taking to Twitter, Gandhi posted, "The scamster's escape formula: La(Mo) + Ni(Mo) ---(with) Na(Mo)---> Bha(Go)", while using the hashtag "#ModiRobsIndia".
Modi has been relentless in building his brand regardless of banks having a problem of fraudulent and unauthorised transactions with his companies.
The diamond merchant wanted in India on charges of fraud and money laundering in the estimated $2-billion Punjab National Bank scam case, lost his legal battle against extradition as a UK judge ruled that he does have a case to answer before the Indian courts.
The agency on Friday also carried out searches on the premises of the Gitanjali Group at 20 places in Mumbai, Pune, Surat, Jaipur, Hyderabad and Coimbatore.
District Judge Marie Mallon said there were substantial grounds to believe that Nirav Modi would fail to surrender if granted bail.
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.
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.
"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.
Among the seizures were Indian masters such as FN Souza, VS Gaitonde, SH Raza, Amrita Sher-Gil and Akbar Padamsee, sculptures from Italy and the US, Chinese artwork and masterpieces by Xu Lei and Zeng Xiaojun.
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.
Nirmala Sitharaman said Nirav Modi may have been able to run away from the country, but the government is taking action against him, and claimed that it will "surely nab him".
The lawyer also claimed "there is no evidence to prove any of the charges levelled against my client."
The ED officer will carry the latest charge sheet filed by the agency against Modi's wife Ami and the recent attachments made by it in the case.
The Reserve Bank has permitted PNB to make provisions against the fraud amount.
The notice, the sources said, was issued on Tuesday to Anita Singhvi and that she was asked to explain how much she had paid in cash and through cheque to purchase the valuables and jewellery a few years back. It is understood that the I-T feels that about Rs 1.5 crore was paid by cheque for the purchase of the jewellery, while about Rs 4.8 crore was paid in cash by Anita Singhvi.
ED attached 21 properties of Nirav Modi and his group worth over Rs 523 crore.
The ED has claimed that Nirav Modi had refused to join the probe despite acknowledging mails and summons issued to him and that he doesn't want to return to India.
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'.
His brother Nishal, a Belgian citizen, also left the country on January 1, while wife Ami, a US citizen, and business partner Mehul Choksi, the Indian promoter of Gitanjali jewellery chain, departed on January 6, the officials said.
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, a diamond jeweller whose designs have been worn by Hollywood stars, is now believed to be running a new business, which describes itself on the UK's Companies House register as a wholesale trader in watches and jewellery and a retailer of watches and jewellery in specialised stores.
Decades apart, but the drama linked to the two appears similar, says Nivedita Mookerji.
Since most banks have tightened lending to diamond merchants and others are about to do so, many medium and small diamond dealers are approaching large players for credit facility within the industry
Theoretically, Modi, who understood corporate finance, committed no crime by raising debt to fund a growing business. In fact, he did a tidy job of it, but his operation started to see the ground underneath it give way in January 2018. A fascinating excerpt from Pavan C Lall's Flawed: The Rise And Fall Of India's Diamond Mogul Nirav Modi.
The Rs 11,400 crore PNB fraud saga unfolded after a bribery complaint by the Hong Kong branch of an Indian bank.
The United Kingdom's home department has cleared the extradition of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, who is wanted in an over Rs 13,000-crore bank fraud case, officials said on Friday.
Officials said the Enforcement Directorate along with the Central Bureau of Investigation launched fresh searches on March 22 at the Samudra Mahal luxury residential flats of Modi in Mumbai's Worli area which resulted in the recovery of fresh valuables.
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