ED Seizes Nirav Modi’s Assets, Valuables Worth Rs. 225 Crore in Hong Kong

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized assets and valuables worth Rs. 225 belonging to fugitive jeweler Nirav Modi in Hong Kong. The Indian agency has been in touch with foreign agencies to identify and attach foreign properties of Modi, who has been on the run since earlier this year, according to media reports.

With this seizure, India’s premier financial probe agency has attached assets and valuables worth Rs. 4744 crore belonging to Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi, and others directly connected to the $2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam.

Modi is accused of defrauding PNB with the purported involvement of few bank employees.

Last month, the ED had attached assets worth Rs. 637 crore of Modi and his family in India and four other foreign locations. The attachments included two immovable properties in New York, an apartment each in Mumbai and London, diamond-studded jewelry and five overseas bank balances in India, United Kingdom, and New York, as part of five separate orders that it issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

News agency ANI said that the ED has issued five provisional orders for attachment of assets in London and New York, an apartment in Mumbai, bank balances in Singapore and other countries and some diamond studded jewelry.  The agency has so far attached assets worth Rs 700 crore of Nirav Modi and his family in the country till now, according to ANI.

The news agency also said that Indian investigators have got multiple Letters Rogatories issued for the legal formalization of these assets. For three months, the ED has been working closely with foreign agencies to identify and attach properties and assets belonging to Modi.

Nirav Modi has been on the run since the fraud came to light earlier this year. While Modi’s whereabouts are not known, his uncle Mehul Choski, who owns Gitanjali Gems became an Antiguan citizen last year and the Indian government is in touch with the Antiguan government to have Choksi extradited to India. Modi’s sister Purvi and brother Neeshal are Belgian citizens. An Interpol notice has been issued against Purvi.

The PNB fraud is by far the biggest in India in terms of value. ANI said an Interpol arrest warrant was recently notified against him even as India is working to get him extradited from the United Kingdom, where he was last reported to have been based.