by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Diamond King Neerav Modi flees India
Rs 11000 Crores fraud detected by PNB, Mumbai Branch
CBI probing biggest ever scam after Kingfisher
Vijay Mallya and Sandesaras also fled the country
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, Feb 14
Even as the Modi government was grappling with the Rs 9000 crores money laundering case against Vijay Mallya of Kingfisher fame and Rs 5000 crore scam of Sterling Biotech, another massive scam involving a sum of Rs 11000 crores surfaced.
The magnitude of the scam shook the banking industry as it involved several Public Sector Banks including the lead banker PNB. The PNB lodged two complaints with the CBI which swung into action as it involved billionaire diamond jeweller Nirav Modi and some of his firms in connection with a Rs 11,000 crore fraud case.
Highly placed sources told Lokmat today that the wanted billionaire diamond trader, had fled the country a couple of days ago when the CBI had registered its first case of cheating of Rs 280 crores against him on February 5.
If Vijay Mallya fled the country in 2016, the two Gujrat-based brothers who own Sterling biotech, also fled the country last year. It transpires that the Sandesara who were highly politically connected fled after the CBI registered cases against them. The diaries of the Sterling Biotech is said to be the root cause of the trouble which named high and mighty people. Now these sources claim that even Neerav Modi has fled the country right under the nose of the government. It was rather surprising how could Neerav Modi flee when the Income tax department had raided his premises in January and other agencies were after him.
Sources in the CBI refused to comment on the development and said that it is probing the case as PNB detected fraudulent transactions worth $1,771.7 million (over Rs11, 000 crore) in its Mumbai branch.
On February 5, CBI had booked Modi, his wife Ami Modi, brother Nishal Modi and his maternal uncle Pune-based Mehul Choksi in connection with an alleged Rs 280-crore cheating case after it received a complaint from PNB on January 29. The CBI FIR said a few public servants “committed abuse of official position to cause pecuniary advantage to Diamond R US, Solar Exports, Stellar Diamonds and wrongful loss of Rs 280.70 crore to Punjab National Bank during 2017”. Modi, his wife, brother and Choksi are all partners of these three firms, the FIR said. The case has been booked under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy, cheating and provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.
The PNB said in BSE filing, “The bank has detected some fraudulent and unauthorised transactions (messages) in one of its branches in Mumbai for the benefit of a few select account holders with their apparent connivance. Based on these transactions, other banks appear to have advanced money to these customers abroad,” said PNB.
The Modus operandi was simple as two employees of the PNB “fraudulently ” issued eight letters of undertakings (LOUs) and “transmitted SWIFT instructions to the overseas branches of Indian Banks” to raise buyers credit of at least Rs 280 crore for Modi’s firms without “making entries in the bank system”.
The bank alleged that it was making an “in depth” inquiry to find outstanding LOUs that have not been detected in its system. The bank also alleged that a fraudulent issuance of LoUs took place on January 16, 2018 for and on behalf of the accused firms, which approached the bank and presented a set of import documents with a request to allow buyers’ credit for making payment to overseas suppliers. The bank officials requested the firms to furnish 100 per cent cash margin for LoUs for raising buyers’ credit. The firms contested this, saying they availed of the facility in the past also, the complaint has alleged. It was at this juncture that inquiries were ordered to look into past record.
The Neerav Modi establishments across the country were raided by the income tax department and seized cash, jewellery and several documents that allegedly revealed tax evasion by his firms.
Diamond King Neerav Modi flees India
Rs 11000 Crores fraud detected by PNB, Mumbai Branch
CBI probing biggest ever scam after Kingfisher
Vijay Mallya and Sandesaras also fled the country
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, Feb 14
Even as the Modi government was grappling with the Rs 9000 crores money laundering case against Vijay Mallya of Kingfisher fame and Rs 5000 crore scam of Sterling Biotech, another massive scam involving a sum of Rs 11000 crores surfaced.
The magnitude of the scam shook the banking industry as it involved several Public Sector Banks including the lead banker PNB. The PNB lodged two complaints with the CBI which swung into action as it involved billionaire diamond jeweller Nirav Modi and some of his firms in connection with a Rs 11,000 crore fraud case.
Highly placed sources told Lokmat today that the wanted billionaire diamond trader, had fled the country a couple of days ago when the CBI had registered its first case of cheating of Rs 280 crores against him on February 5.
If Vijay Mallya fled the country in 2016, the two Gujrat-based brothers who own Sterling biotech, also fled the country last year. It transpires that the Sandesara who were highly politically connected fled after the CBI registered cases against them. The diaries of the Sterling Biotech is said to be the root cause of the trouble which named high and mighty people. Now these sources claim that even Neerav Modi has fled the country right under the nose of the government. It was rather surprising how could Neerav Modi flee when the Income tax department had raided his premises in January and other agencies were after him.
Sources in the CBI refused to comment on the development and said that it is probing the case as PNB detected fraudulent transactions worth $1,771.7 million (over Rs11, 000 crore) in its Mumbai branch.
On February 5, CBI had booked Modi, his wife Ami Modi, brother Nishal Modi and his maternal uncle Pune-based Mehul Choksi in connection with an alleged Rs 280-crore cheating case after it received a complaint from PNB on January 29. The CBI FIR said a few public servants “committed abuse of official position to cause pecuniary advantage to Diamond R US, Solar Exports, Stellar Diamonds and wrongful loss of Rs 280.70 crore to Punjab National Bank during 2017”. Modi, his wife, brother and Choksi are all partners of these three firms, the FIR said. The case has been booked under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy, cheating and provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.
The PNB said in BSE filing, “The bank has detected some fraudulent and unauthorised transactions (messages) in one of its branches in Mumbai for the benefit of a few select account holders with their apparent connivance. Based on these transactions, other banks appear to have advanced money to these customers abroad,” said PNB.
The Modus operandi was simple as two employees of the PNB “fraudulently ” issued eight letters of undertakings (LOUs) and “transmitted SWIFT instructions to the overseas branches of Indian Banks” to raise buyers credit of at least Rs 280 crore for Modi’s firms without “making entries in the bank system”.
The bank alleged that it was making an “in depth” inquiry to find outstanding LOUs that have not been detected in its system. The bank also alleged that a fraudulent issuance of LoUs took place on January 16, 2018 for and on behalf of the accused firms, which approached the bank and presented a set of import documents with a request to allow buyers’ credit for making payment to overseas suppliers. The bank officials requested the firms to furnish 100 per cent cash margin for LoUs for raising buyers’ credit. The firms contested this, saying they availed of the facility in the past also, the complaint has alleged. It was at this juncture that inquiries were ordered to look into past record.
The Neerav Modi establishments across the country were raided by the income tax department and seized cash, jewellery and several documents that allegedly revealed tax evasion by his firms.
