ED seizes Nirav Modi’s Rs 329 cr assets in India, UAE & UK

New Delhi, July 8 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has confiscated fugitive diamantaire Nirava Modi’s Rs 329.66 crore properties in Mumbai, Rajasthan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the UK.

The movable and immovable assets were seized under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA) 2018, the ED said on Wednesday.

The assets included four flats at Samudra Mahal, the iconic building in South Mumbai’s Worli, one seaside farm house and land in Alibaug, one wind mill in Jaisalmer, one flat in London and some flats in the UAE, shares and bank deposits.

The ED had filed an application before the FEOA special court in Mumbai on July 10, 2018 seeking declaration of Nirav Modi a fugitive economic offender and seizure of his properties valued at Rs 1,396 crore. They belonged to him and entities directly or indirectly owned by him.

On December 5, 2019, the court declared him a fugitive economic offender. On June 8, it asked the ED to attach his assets (other than properties mortgaged or hypothecated and secured to Punjab National Bank-led consortium) and those belonging to his companies.

It also asked the consortium of banks to move the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) special court to claim the mortgaged, hypothecated and secured properties, which were attached by the ED.

Of the properties attached, Rs 1,000 crore assets prima facie were found to be covered under mortgage. The Bombay High Court had ordered that sale proceeds of paintings (Rs 45 crore) be kept as fixed deposit till further order.

In this case, the ED has attached Rs 2,348 crore properties of Nirav Modi under the PMLA.

Nirav Modi, along with his uncle Mehul Choksi, is among the prime accused in the Rs 14,000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud, unearthed over two years ago.

Currently, Nirav Modi is in a London jail after his arrest by the local police in March 2019. Choksi has taken citizenship of the Caribbean island nation of Antigua & Barbuda.

–IANS

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