New Delhi: The Punjab National Bank on Thursday asked diamond jeweller Nirav Modi to come up with a “concrete and implementable” plan to settle the Rs 11,400-crore loss caused to it by the fraudulent issuance of Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) through one of its Mumbai branches.
Mr Modi, who is under the scanner of various investigative agencies, failed to depose before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning on Thursday.
ED sources said fresh summons were issued against Mr Modi after he failed to appear. They added that Mr Modi had replied to the ED’s investigating officer (IO), who is probing the role of the diamond merchant and his uncle Mehul Choksi, Gitanjali Gems’ promoter, in the PNB fraud case, and cited the temporary suspension of his passport and pending business issues as reasons for non-appearance. He has now been asked to join the investigation and appear before the ED in Mumbai on February 26.
The PNB, in its response to a mail written by Mr Modi, said: “Your commitment and undertaking for sparing of the total liability was not backed by providing upfront amounts and timelines. However, should you have any concrete and implementable plan, do revert back.” PNB had told Mr Modi that he was getting LoUs issued illegally and in an unauthorised way through a few bank officials. “At no stage such facilities were extended by our bank to your three partner firms,” it said. PNB said when the illegal activities of Nirav Modi surfaced, the bank had brought them to the notice of the law enforcement agencies as they appeared to violate Fema and the anti-money laundering law.
Last week, in a letter to PNB, Modi had said PNB’s over-zealousness had destroyed his jewellery brand and also jeopardised his ability to clear dues. On Thursday, PNB informed the stock exchanges that it had enough assets and capital to meet any liability that was decided as per the law. On Modi’s allegation that PNB closed all options to recover dues by going public, the bank replied: “We have followed the lawful avenues available to us as per the law of the land to recover our dues.” On why it had not informed stock exchanges about the filing of FIR with the CBI at the occurrence of the event, the PNB said: “Since law-enforcing agencies were assigned to investigate the matter, any news in public would have altered the fraudster, affecting recovery.”
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday seized mutual funds and shares worth '100 crores of the Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi groups in connection with its money-laundering probe into the case. It also seized nine high-end luxury cars of Modi. As the searches at the groups’ premises continued for the eighth day by ED, the income-tax department said property worth Rs 1,200 crores of the Gitanjali Group located in the Special Economic Zone in Hyderabad has been attached.
ED sources said the agency had seized mutual funds and shares worth Rs 86.72 crores belong to Choksi and his group, and the rest are owned by the Modi group. Choksi is Modi’s uncle and promoter of Gitanjali Gems and other jewellery brands. The probe agency also seized nine costly cars of Modi, recovered during raids last week. These include a Rolls Royce Ghost, a Mercedes-Benz, a Porsche Panamera, three Honda variants, a Toyota Fortuner and an Innova. Modi, Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple probe agencies after it came to light, following a PNB complaint, that they had allegedly cheated the nationalised bank of Rs 11,400 crores, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.
The external affairs ministry on Thursday said it had an acknowledgement from Nirav Modi of the showcause notice on why his passport should not be revoked, and that the notice has now been sent to a “requested” email ID. The comments by MEA spokesman Raveesh Kumar come a day ahead of the expiry of the one-week time given to Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi to respond why their passports should not be revoked. On the location of Modi, Mr Kumar said: “The matter should be addressed to the law enforcement agencies. There are certain investigations and legal procedures which need to be completed before the ministry comes into the picture.”
Asked about the notice to Modi, he said: “He has acknowledged in the sense there was some confusion on the address where it was to be sent. And the request had been received to send the notice to a particular email ID. Accordingly, the notice was sent to the email ID as requested.” Mr Kumar also noted that on the investigative agencies’ advice, the MEA had suspended the passports of both Modi and Choksi.
