Court Allows ED To Issue Letter Rogatory To 6 Nations In PNB Fraud

A court that hears cases under the money laundering law accepted the Enforcement Directorate’s plea to issue letter rogatory to six countries seeking judicial assistance in over Rs 11,400-crore fraud related to billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi and his companies.

The letter rogatory will be issued to the US, the UK, Hong Kong, the UAE, South Africa and Singapore.

The ED argued that Rs 6,498 crore were siphoned off to set up companies and also buy properties in the six countries and it’s seeking related documents. The companies Modi set up in the countries, the investigating agency said, included Diamonds R Us and Firestar International.

Modi is an integrated diamond manufacturer who bought rough diamonds, polished them and then sold them out of the country. ED’s plea in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act court came in the case of loans granted based on fraudulent guarantees allegedly issued through Punjab National Bank’s systems.

Probe On

Meanwhile, an executive director of the PNB was also interrogated by ED officials on 27 February, an official aware of the development said requesting anonymity.

The Income Tax Department also attached Mehul Choksi’s Gitanjali Group’s 66 bank accounts which have a credit balance of Rs 80.07 crore, according to another government official.

The Central Bureau of Investigation also searched the office premises of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas last week for documents related to the Nirav Modi scam, according to an official in the investigating agency. The CBI was provided all the documents it required, the official said. The law firm declined to comment.

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