Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, fighting extradition to India on charges over the nearly $2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case, was on Tuesday remanded in custody until 11 May, when his five-day trial will take place in a part-remote setting.
The agency said the bank account is in the name of Pavillion Point Corporation based in the British Virgin Islands, a company that is "beneficially owned" by Purvi Modi and Maiank Mehta. The couple is the sister and brother-in-law of Nirav Modi, who is currently under arrest in this alleged bank fraud case in London from where India is seeking his extradition.
The central probe agency said the assets were in the name of "Modi and his group company M/s Firestar Diamond FZE and they bear a market value of USD 7.79 million, which is equivalent to Rs 56.8 crore".
The financial crime probe agency, in the plea, had sought direction to declare the diamond jeweller a "fugitive" under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.
On May 22 this year, after taking cognisance of the second charge sheet filed in the Rs 12,636-crore PNB fraud case by the CBI, the special court had issued the NBW against Choksi.
Terming himself as a 'soft target', Choksi said that he has been made a sacrificial lamb for the "fault" of the state-owned PNB bank.
"The team met the Foreign Ministry officials of the island nation yesterday and handed over the request to extradite Choksi to India," an official source said.
Official sources said the Ministry of External Affairs has received the extradition request from the CBI and is currently in the process of sending it to the authorities in Antigua and Barbuda.
PNB suffered a standalone net loss of Rs 12,282.82 crore in 2017-18, as against a profit of Rs 1,324.80 crore in 2016-17.
The Supreme Court also observed that the PIL is devoid of merit and the allegations made in it are “unwarranted” and “reckless”.
The United Kingdom (UK) shared the information on “movements” of Nirav Modi, his brother Nishal and his uncle Mehul Choksi after the CBI issued a diffusion notice through Interpol against them on February 15.
Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate for allegedly cheating the PNB, the country’s second largest lender, to the tune of more than USD 2 billion.
The agency, empowered by the Union government to enact the new power in the country, will seek an official declaration to categorize Nirav Modi as a "fugitive" based on its prosecution complaint (charge sheet) filed before a special court in Mumbai last week under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The downgrade also reflects the weak internal controls and processes of the bank, given that the fraudulent transactions were undetected for a number of years.
The ED asked them to depose before the investigating officer of the case in Mumbai over the next few days.
"ICAI has issued notices to statutory auditors of the Brady House branch under the Chartered Account Act, 1949, to appear before Board of Discipline and offer an explanation," ICAI member S B Zaware said.
Besides, the lending major said it will look on a quarterly basis on whatever internal accruals can be generated -- through recovery, more efficient risk management, more business generation and more cross selling.
A fraud of around $2.2 billion took place in PNB, the second largest in public sector, by diamond trader Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi.
The BSE chief added that the scandal would not have taken place had appropriate reforms in the banking sector including the RBI been taken after the 1992 Harshad Mehta scam.
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