PNB scam: ED attaches Nirav Modi's assets worth Rs 637 crore

SEBI probe moves ahead, no clean chit to Nirav, Choksi (File) A poster featuring Nirav Modi at a protest against the PNB scam | Salil Bera

The Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth Rs 637 crore belonging to fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi in India and in four other countries over his involvement in the PNB scam.

According to media reports on Monday, the properties attached by the Enforcement Directorate include five overseas bank accounts worth nearly Rs 278 crore, two immovable properties in New York worth Rs 216 crore, diamond jewellery from Hong Kong and an apartment in Mumbai.

The assets have been attached as part of five separate orders issued by the central probe agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), it said.

The agency, a senior official said, also got issued an Interpol Red Corner notice (global arrest warrant) against Aditya Nanavati, an accused in the same case, on charges of money laundering.

Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi have been charged with cheating the state-run Punjab National Bank through fraudulent issuance of letters of undertaking and foreign letters of credit worth over $2 billion (about Rs 13,000 crore) in connivance with few bank and other government officials.

Nirav Modi and Choksi have been absconding since the beginning of this year.

The Enforcement Directorate had moved court seeking to declare Modi and Choksi as "fugitive economic offenders" and is seeking a nod to confiscate their assets worth Rs 3,500 crore.