PNB Fraud: Directors of five dummy companies set up by Nirav Modi earned between Rs 8,000 and Rs 30,000

The Enforcement Directorate in its report against jeweller Nirav Modi have said that owners and directors of at least five firms based out of Hong Kong earned only between Rs 8,000 and Rs 30,000 every month, an Indian Express report has revealed.

The report adds that the companies that these directors worked for allegedly received about Rs 8,270 crore from letters of undertaking issued by Punjab National Bank on behalf of the jeweller.

The ED further added that the so-called directors of five such dummy firms were actually junior employees and former employees of Modi’s Firestar Group.

The ED has further alleged that goods were moved between Firestar Group and these dummy firms in Hong Kong, Dubai and India, which led to creation of huge outstandings in the books of the dummy companies against the Indian firms.

Earlier, the ED said it would move a special court in Mumbai to seek permission for "immediate confiscation" of about Rs 7,000 crore assets of designer diamond jeweller Nirav Modi under the recently promulgated Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance.

The agency, empowered by the Union government to enact the new power in the country, will seek an official declaration to categorise Nirav Modi as a "fugitive" based on its prosecution complaint (charge sheet) filed before a special court in Mumbai last week under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

On May 24, the ED had filed its first charge sheet in the over USD 2 billion PNB fraud case involving diamantaire Nirav Modi and his associates stating that over Rs 6,400 crore of bank funds were allegedly laundered abroad to dummy companies by him and others.

A total of 24 accused have been listed in the charge sheet, filed under section 45 of the PMLA, including Nirav Modi, his father, brother Neeshal Modi, sister Purvi Modi, brother-in-law Mayank Mehta and the designer jewellers' firms--Ms Solar Exports, Stellar Diamonds and Diamonds R Us.

Punjab National Bank