PNB moves Hong Kong HC against Nirav Modi

Following the recent multi-million dollar scam involving several banks, the Punjab National Bank on Saturday moved the Hong Kong High Court against absconding jewellery designer Nirav Modi.

An official from the Bank told ANI that it would approach the courts of other countries where Nirav Modi and his uncle, Mehul Choksi have assets and businesses.

For those unversed, PNB had detected a loan default scam in February, wherein Modi and Choksi had acquired separate Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) to avail credit from various sources and did not repay the loan.

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

In April, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had sought a provisional arrest of Modi by the Hong Kong government in connection with the close to two billion dollar scam case.

However, the MEA on Thursday confirmed that the Hong Kong authorities, who, under a treaty with the Indian Government, are obliged to surrender a fugitive wanted by India, have not sent word regarding Nirav Modi's whereabouts as yet.