The Enforcement Directorate (ED), took the step of detaching assets worth over ₹1,000 crore off from the belongings of the prime accused of the PNB Scam and listed them for auction.
Diamantaire Nirav Modi’s assets worth over ₹1,000 crore have been detached by the ED. Nirav Modi was the prime accused of the huge Punjab National Bank (PNB) Scam. Multiple properties owned by him, that have been seized, will be listed for auction to recover the amount that his company has to pay to Punjab National Bank.
This includes his very iconic residences and offices like the Rhythm House in south Mumbai, four flats in Worli and his office building in Kurla. These properties will be liquidated by a liquidator appointed by the National Company Law Tribunal according to an ED official. The properties will be auctioned and the amount will be used to recover the payable amount to PNB by his firm.
The businessman fled the country with his American wife, Ami early in 2018 right before the massive scam came into the light. Later in the same month, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), registered an offence under sections of Prevention of Corruption Act (POC) and applicable sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Nirav and a few others including two officials of PNB.
According to the FIR lodged by the bank, Modi and his firms ‘M/s Diamond R US’, ‘M/s Stellar Diamond’ and ‘M/s Solar Exports’ got issued 150 letters of undertaking from the bank and duped the bank of ₹6,498 crore or USD 1,015.35 million, leading to a loss of ₹6,805 crore to the public sector banks.
Another prime accused of the scam was Modi’s maternal uncle Mehul Choksi who reportedly duped the bank of ₹7,080 crore. He is also believed to have payments of dues to the tune of ₹5,099.5 crore to other several banks in India.
Modi is currently in prison at Wandsworth Prison in London since 2019 when the British Police arrested him after a number of warrants issued against him. Choksi is believed to be a citizen of Antigua presently and is residing in the Caribbean.
