Yesterday, a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Court accepted the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) plea regarding seizure of Nirav Modi’s properties abroad. The ED requested the Court to issue Letter Rogatory (LR) to authorities in six countries to aid in the seizure. Nirav Modi is the key accused in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam.
Special Judge M. S. Azmi accepted the ED’s pleas on LR. The LRs will be issued to authorities in the United States (U.S.,) United Arab Emirates (UAE,) Singapore, South Africa, Hong Kong and United Kingdom (UK.) The ED officials moved the LR pleas under the PMLA to recover and seize the properties, collecting documents and evidence from the 6 countries.
On Monday, the ED told the Special Court Modi spread his business operations in many countries. The ED probes revealed that Modi established many firms abroad including Solar Exports, Firestar Diamond International etc. Modi’s firms focussed not only on designing jewellery but also buying and selling of precious stones, rough and polished diamonds.
The CBI registered two FIRs in the PNB case. The first FIR is of Rs. 281 crore fraud against Modi and his kin along with other accused. The second FIR is about a fraud of Rs. 4,900 crore against Mehul Choksi and his firms.
