MUMBAI: The
Enforcement Directorate (ED) has foiled fugitive diamond merchant
Nirav Modi’s attempt to dispose of diamonds and pearls worth Rs 22.7 crore lying with an agent in Hong Kong after CBI began probing the PNB scam.
Interestingly, a valuation revealed that the pearls, with a declared value of Rs 50 crore, were worth just Rs 5 lakh, while the diamonds’ declared value of Rs 35 crore was actually Rs 22.65 crore.
The ED attached these valuables after a three-month drama in which they armtwisted the forwarding agent to send the diamonds and pearls to India.
Nirav was negotiating to get custody of the diamonds in Hong Kong and had sent Nehal Modi, his US-based stepbrother, to handle the crisis. But the agent supported the ED and sent the valuables back to India after stating that the “receiver was not traceable”, officials said.
Officials stated that Nirav was trying to collect whatever valuables he had lying in different countries. He was keener about the diamonds considering they were worth Rs 22.65 crore. In the past, Nirav had sent his stepbrother to a Dubai “safehouse” from where he had “disappeared” with 50 kg of gold jewellery.
Nirav Modi had left India in January and, within a month, the CBI had registered a case against him for defrauding PNB of Rs 6,300 crore though fraudulent letters of undertaking. The ED then registered a
money laundering case against him and others.
Since the Indian agencies were searching for Nirav, he took Nehal’s help to shift his valuables to safer locations, officials said. Officials stated that Nirav asked Nehal to visit Hong Kong to get hold of the gems.
Many of the shell companies with dummy directors that Nirav used to launder money were based in Hong Kong.
