NiMo’s stolen fund was layered extensively: ED

Mumbai: A day after the attachment of ill-gotten assets of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, to the tune of Rs 637 crore, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers revealed that one of his properties in Central Park South in New York was in the name of Central Park Real Estate LLC, a group company of Nirav Modi’s Firestar cluster.

In 2018, transferred to the Ithaca Trust. Firestar,  a beneficiary of the stolen fund, paid mortgage taken on the apartment from HSBC bank,  the Enforcement Directorate said.

The ED officials said that the beneficiary of the Ithaca Trust, in whose name the other properties were purchased, is Ami Modi (wife of Nirav Modi) and her children. The settler of the said trust is Purvi Modi, the sister of Nirav Modi. The ultimate source of funds for purchasing this property was the stolen money from Punjab National Bank (PNB).

The investigators stated that before paying consideration for the property, the stolen fund was layered extensively involving multiple jurisdictions like Dubai, Bahamas, USA, Singapore, among other countries.

“The consideration was paid from a fiduciary account of Commonwealth Trust Company, Singapore and the deal was carried out by a lawyer firm based in USA,” said an ED officer.

Separate provisional attachment orders had to be issued for attaching the properties and bank accounts, whereas the jewellery brought from Hong Kong was seized under panchnama, officials said.

Diamond studded jewellery of worth Rs 22.69 crores was brought back to India from Hong Kong in 23 shipments. Letters Rogatories have also been sent to the authorities of foreign jurisdictions.

The attached assets also includes a bank account belonging to a investment company registered in British Virgin Island and owned by Purvi Modi and Maiank Mehta in Singa-pore. The account balance was USD 6.12 million (Rs 44 crores), which also has been attached.