PNB Fraud: ED seizes stocks of diamond and gold worth Rs 5100 crore

The Enforcement Directorate today conducted multiple searches in connection with a  money laundering case against billionaire jewellery designer Nirav Modi and others following a complaint by Punjab National Bank. 

Official sources said the agency sleuths swooped down on at least 17 premises of entities involved in the case early morning. The premises raided by the ED here include Modi's residence in Kurla, his jewellery boutique in Kala Ghoda area, three company locations in Bandra and Lower Parel, three premises in Surat in Gujarat and Modi's showrooms in Chanakyapuri and Defence Colony in Delhi. 

ED searches at 17 premises across India of #NiravModi & #Geetanjali Gems in #PNBFraudCase. Stocks of gold, diamond & precious stones worth Rs 5100 crore seized. pic.twitter.com/UhgUVXdrdk

— ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2018

Stock worth Rs 5100 Cr including Gold & Diamond jewellery, Precious stones etc recovered during searches was seized under PMLA. Certain records have also been resumed for further investigation. Bank balance worth Rs 3.9 crore in accounts & fixed deposits has also been freezed.

— ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2018

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sealed the residence of Ami Modi, wife of Nirav Modi in Mumbai's Worli in connection with Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case involving her husband and businessman Nirav Modi.

The CBI sealed her residence after conducting a raid on February 3 and 4. The probe agency also seized 95 documents including import bills and applications.

As per the CBI sources, Ami, an American citizen, left India on January 6 while Nirav left on January 1, days before CBI issued a lookout circulars against all accused in the scam.

The CBI issued the circulars against all the accused on January 31.

The ED had filed a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after going through a CBI FIR registered early this month.
It is understood that the ED also went through the PNB complaint that was made out against Modi and others.
The agency, they said, would probe if the allegedly defrauded bank funds were laundered and these proceeds of crime were subsequently used by the accused to create illegal assets and black money.

The CBI had booked Modi, his brother, wife and a business partner for allegedly cheating PNB of over Rs 280.70 crore in 2017.
The CBI had also raided the residence of Modi, his brother Nishal, wife Ami and Mehul Chinubhai Choksi, all partners of Diamond R US, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds and two bank officials -- Gokulnath Shetty (now retired) and Manoj Kharat, who were also named in the FIR as accused.

Modi (46), who had figured in the Forbes' list of richest Indians, was booked by the CBI for cheating after PNB sent a complaint to it alleging that the jewellery firm owner, his brother, wife and Choksi entered into a criminal conspiracy with the officials of the bank and cheated it, causing a "wrongful loss".
"The public servants committed abuse of official position to cause pecuniary advantage to Diamond R US, Solar Exports, Stellar Diamonds and a wrongful loss of Rs 280.70 crore to Punjab National Bank during 2017," the CBI FIR has alleged.

The bank had also alleged in the complaint that a fraudulent issuance of Letters of Undertakings (LOU) took place on January 16, 2018 for and on behalf of the accused firms, which approached the bank and presented a set of import documents to the branch with a request to allow buyers' credit for making payment to overseas suppliers.

The finance ministry said the assets in the Nirav Modi fraud case involving state-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) will be recovered and nobody will be spared.

PNB has detected a USD 1.77 billion (about Rs 11,400 crore) scam where billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi allegedly acquired fraudulent letters of undertaking from a branch in Mumbai to secure overseas credit from other Indian lenders.

The Enforcement Directorate today conducted multiple searches in connection with a money laundering case against Modi and others following a complaint by PNB.

Talking to reporters on the PNB fraud case, Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar said the bank will make the required provisioning and it has "sufficient" funds for it.

"Whole lot of assets will be recovered. Nobody will be spared," Kumar said.

The secretary further said that the issue is an "isolated case of a single branch" and all possible action will be taken against the guilty persons.

"This is not likely to escalate to other banks. We have already frozen the case," he said, adding all other banks have been alerted about the case.

The Punjab National Bank (PNB) said it will take "full-capacity" action against the wrong doers in the Rs 11,400-crore Nirav Modi fraud case, which started in 2011.

The state-owned bank said it had detected USD 1.77 billion fraud in which billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi allegedly acquired fraudulent letters of undertaking (LoUs) from one its branches for overseas credit from other Indian lenders.

PNB has suspended 10 officers over the scam and referred the matter to the CBI for investigations. The Enforcement Directorate is continuing raids at various places associated with the well-known jewellery designer.

PNB CMD Sunil Mehta told reporters that the bank detected the fraud and has referred the matter to the law enforcement agencies.

"In the last 123 years, we have seen many ups and down. The bank at its full capacity will take every action to book wrongdoers.

"This fraud had started in 2011. Our own bank detected first and told the law enforcement agencies about this. PNB is fully committed to its clean banking policy. That is why we are the first one to detect and report this to the various law enforcement agencies," he said.

Mehta tried to assure stakeholders saying that it was a standalone incident confined to a single branch in Mumbai. He also said all other branches of the bank have been scanned to check any fraudulent activity.

The PNB CMD further said the bank has informed all its lenders about case.

"We have issued advisory as well to them. We were the first to inform SEBI about this under the disclosure norms. So all these things are as per our clean banking agenda," Mehta added.

He further said the government was monitoring the case on day-to-day basis. "The bank has the capability and capacity to come out of this situation." The top PNB official, however, refrained from providing details as the investigations were going on.

He asserted that action will be taken against all those involved, irrespective of their seniority.

Mehta further said the bank will honour all its bonafide commitments. "We want to convey to all our stakeholders that PNB is pursuing clean banking agenda as a responsible bank." PNB shares continued to bleed for the second day in a row, ending with a steep loss of 12 per cent at Rs 128.35 apiece on BSE.

With inputs from PTI