ED attaches Rs 13.14 crore Thailand factory of Mehul Choksi

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday provisionally attached factory premises worth Rs. 13.14 crore in Thailand in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.

The said factory premise is under the ownership of M/s Abbeycrest (Thailand) Limited which is a group company of the Gitanjali Group.

The Gitanjali Group is owned by fugitive Mehul Choksi.

"With the following attachment, the value of seizure in the PNB scam is to the tune of approximately Rs 4,765 crore," a statement from the Enforcement Directorate read.

The financial investigators had registered two separate money laundering cases in Punjab National Bank (PNB) bank fraud case against Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and others under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 on the basis of an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under sections 120-B read with section 420 of the Indian Penal Code read with Section 13(2) and 13(1)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

"It was alleged that the accused had committed the offence of cheating against Punjab National Bank in connivance with certain bank officials by fraudulently getting the Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) issued and got the Foreign Letter of Credit (FLCs) enhanced ignoring prescribed procedure and caused a wrongful loss to the bank," the statement read further.

Further probe revealed that M/s Abbeycrest (Thailand) Limited is a beneficiary of the LoUs issued fraudulently from PNB to the tune of Rs. 92.3 crores. This overseas property has been identified and after gathering concrete evidence of ownership, this overseas property has been attached.

With this attachment, the value of attachment/seizure in PNB scam is to the tune of approximately Rs. 4765 crore.

Further investigation in the matter is underway.