PNB Scam: ED Files Chargesheet Against Nirav Modi, Associates

It is expected that the ED would file a second chargesheet against Modi’s uncle Mehul Choksi.

Absconding diamantaire Nirav Modi.

(Photo: The Quint)

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday, 24 May, filed its first chargesheet in the over Rs 13,000-crore PNB fraud case involving diamantaire Nirav Modi and his associates, officials said.

They said the about 12,000-page chargesheet or the prosecution complaint has been filed before a special court here under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

They added that the criminal complaint has only been filed against Nirav Modi, his associates and businesses and the entire gamut of issuance of fake Letters of Undertaking (LoU) by the Punjab National Bank (PNB) to his firms in alleged connivance of bank officials.

It was revealed during investigation that the payments were made to 17 overseas entities in Hong Kong, Dubai and USA since 2011 in the guise of export /import. During further investigation, it was revealed that all these overseas companies are dummy companies of Mr Nirav Modi

Enforcement Directorate statement

The agency added that various dummy directors and associated persons were “mechanically transferring the goods and monies as per the directions of Nirav Modi without any economic rationale and logic."

The ED stated that Modi was siphoning off funds through fraudulent methods within India and overseas.

The funds acquired by fraudulent means were siphoned off within country as well as to the overseas dummy companies owned and controlled by Mr Nirav Modi.

It is expected that the agency would file a second chargesheet against Modi's uncle and jeweller Mehul Choksi and his businesses.

The chargesheet also details the attachments made by the agency against Modi and his associates in the last few months after it first registered an FIR in this case on 14 February.

The CBI had early this month filed two chargesheets in this case.

Modi, who is absconding and has not joined the ED probe in the case till now, and others are being probed under various criminal laws after the fraud came to light this year following a complaint by PNB that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of over Rs 13,000 crore, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.

The ED chargesheet focuses on the money laundering aspect and the role of Nirav Modi and others in perpetrating the alleged fraud, a senior official said.

Both Nirav Modi and Choksi are said to have left the country before criminal cases were lodged against them.

(With inputs from PTI)