The ED is also mulling booking Nirav Modi and his uncle Choksi under the recently promulgated the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance.
Investigators probing the alleged Rs 13,500-crore fraud in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) caused by wanted diamantaires Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, wrote to the Chief Passport Officer, New Delhi Monday seeking details of the Passport Act and provisions related to revocation of passport. This, sources say is to commence the process of lodging a case against
Earlier this year, the Mumbai Regional Passport office, based on the request of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), had revoked Modi’s passport. In May, sources say Modi challenged the revocation and sent an application to the Chief Passport officer, Patiala House in New Delhi. However, the said agency rejected his contention and continued with the revocation process started by the Mumbai Regional Passport office. Investigators have now written to the agency seeking details of the Passport Act allegedly flouted by Modi.
“Certain provisions under the said Act clearly state that in the event a passport is rejected and the appeal against rejection is also declined, the holder of the passport cannot travel on the said revoked passport. After the Interpol’s reply, we are mulling registering an offence against Modi for violating the provision of the Indian Passport Act.,” said an official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “We have therefore written to the passport authority in New Delhi to spell the details on the circumstances under which a passport is revoked and which provisions are violated if a person travels on a revoked passport. Once we get the reply, we will write to the regional passport office in Mumbai to register a case with the local police against Modi,” added the official, requesting anonymity.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also planning to submit its prosecution complaint against Choksi. “The chargesheet is in its final leg and we will soon submit our prosecution complaint against Choksi. During the course of the probe we have provisionally attached his properties over Rs 5000 crore and the same would be detailed in the chargesheet. Like Modi, Choksi too raised loans through fraudulent Letter of Undertakings and rerouted the money through shell companies in India to primarily buy real estate,” an agency official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity told The Indian Express.
The ED is also mulling booking Modi and his uncle Choksi under the recently promulgated the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance. If done. Modi would be the second Indian to be booked under the ordinance as the central agency is having the same plans for liquor baron Vijay Mallya.
“We have submitted our prosecution complaint (chargesheet) before the special PMLA Court against Modi and are waiting for the court to take cognisance. Once that happens we will move an application under the new ordinance,” added the official.
While the ED is probing the money laundering aspect in the case, the CBI is probing the alleged misuse of office by public servants and the alleged criminal conspiracy entered between the arrested bankers and private persons to defraud the nationalised bank and cause it a loss of over Rs 13,500 crore. While the ED has filed a chargesheet under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, the CBI has filed two chargesheets under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.