PNB scam: ED accuses Nirav Modi of creating dummy firms in India, abroad

The Enforcement Directorate, in its charge sheet, mentioned that absconding jeweler Nirav Modi created dummy companies in India as well as abroad for money laundering activities, in its chargesheet filed on March 24.

In a charge sheet filed on March 24 this year, the ED said, "Nirav Modi created dummy companies abroad, and few in India too, namely Bentley Properties Pvt. Ltd., Mac Business Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., Firestone Trading Pvt. Ltd. etc with the purpose of acquiring properties & laundering ill-gotten money."

"There were few companies only created in order to facilitate layering and laundering of funds obtained fraudulently from PNB and to camouflage the real intention & identity of beneficiaries of the funds siphoned off from PNB," the chargesheet further pointed out.

According to the officials, the 12,000-page ED charge sheet, or the prosecution complaint, was filed before a special Mumbai court under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 (PMLA).
 

The criminal complaint was filed against Nirav, his associates and businesses and the entire gamut of issuance of fake Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) by Punjab National Bank (PNB) to his firms in alleged connivance of bank officials.

On Monday, a special PMLA court in Mumbai allowed application filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking diamantaire Nirav Modi's extradition from the United Kingdom.

The ED had earlier filed the application in the court seeking permission to start extradition of the absconding diamantaire in connection with a multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam.

According to the ED, Nirav Modi is in the UK and needs to be extradited as non-bailable warrants (NBW) has already issued against him, and he is not appearing before the court even after prosecution complaint.

The ED had also sent a request for a Red Corner Notice against Modi, but the Interpol is yet to issue this.

For those unversed, the PNB detected the multi-crore scam this year, wherein Nirav and his uncle-cum-business-partner Mehul Choksi had allegedly cheated the bank to the tune of USD 2 billion, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.