No response from Nirav Modi on ED summons

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has received no response from Nirav Modi or the other accused so far in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case, sources have revealed.

It is also being investigated as to why Gokulnath Shetty, a retired deputy manager of PNB's foreign exchange department at the Brady House in Fort in Mumbai wasn't promoted in all these years, according to ED sources.

It further said that the first Letter of Undertaking (LOU) was issued in March 2011 and it was rolled over.

Assets worth Rs. 5716 crore have been seized in the 39 raids conducted so far. 10 of the raids were in Mumbai.

ED, however, said that it will find out how the money laundering took place.

"As it is in foreign jurisdiction it will take time to investigate," sources revealed.

On a related note, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) asked the PNB and Ministry of Finance officials to submit a report on how the scam took place, despite monetary regulations being in place.

CVC has given the bank 10 days to prepare and submit the report.

Earlier, officials from PNB, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Department of Financial Services gave a two-hour long presentation to CVC about the case.

The law enforcement agency has asked for names of officials who were involved in the scam and sought identification of officials who could have taken action and prevented it.

Further, after meeting with PNB and Finance Ministry officials today, the Central Vigilance Commission also had a meeting with Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials.

For the unversed, Punjab National Bank detected a 1.77 billion dollars scam in which jeweler Nirav Modi acquired fraudulent letters of undertaking from one of its branches for overseas credit from other Indian lenders.

The scam was started in 2011 and was detected in the third week of January this year, after which the PNB officials reported it to the concerned agencies.

Meanwhile, the PNB filed a second complaint with the CBI on February 13.

The CBI had received the complaint from PNB on January 28 and a case was registered in the case on January 31.