New Delhi: Four Swiss bank accounts of beleaguered diamantaire Nirav Modi, the prime accused in the multi-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case, and his sister have been frozen by the authorities in Switzerland as part of the money-laundering probe against them in India.
Sources said the accounts at present have deposits of Rs 283.16 crores, and they have been frozen on the request of the Enforcement Directorate after it told the Swiss authorities that these funds were the proceeds of a bank fraud perpetrated by Nirav Modi and others. The ED made the request to the Swiss authorities a while back and also sent an official request under the criminal provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), sources said. A provisional order for attachment of these four accounts, and one more in the name of a company controlled by Nirav Modi, was issued by the ED in Mumbai in September last year. Sources said while the accounts of Nirav Modi, under arrest in this case in London, have deposits of $3,74,11,596, the accounts in the name of his sister Purvi Modi has deposits of £27,38,136. The total amount is about Rs 283.16 crores, they added.
The ED is now likely to make a move for the seizure and subsequent confiscation of these bank accounts under the PMLA. The ED and the CBI are probing Nirav Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi and others for alleged money laundering and corruption to defraud the Brady House branch of PNB in Mumbai to the tune of over '13,000 crores. Nirav Modi has been absconding since the alleged bank fraud came to light last year.
The ED has also filed a chargesheet against Nirav Modi alleging that he laundered and diverted over Rs 6,400 crores of bank funds abroad to dummy companies that were under his and his family’s control.
A total of 24 names were listed in the chargesheet that was filed under Section 45 PMLA. It includes Nirav Modi, his father Deepak Modi, brother Neeshal Modi, sister Purvi Modi, brother-in-law Maiank Mehta and designer jewellers’ firms Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds.
