PremiumA Mumbai special court has allowed "restoration" of properties worth ₹440 crore of Nirav Modi confiscated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), to the Punjab National Bank (PNB).
The order, which became available on Thursday, was passed by V C Barde, special judge for Prevention of Money Laundering Act, last week.
Last month, PNB had filed multiple applications seeking release of the properties mortgaged with the bank against the credit facilities extended to Nirav Modi's two firms, Firestar Diamond International Private Ltd (FDIPL) and Firestar International (FIL). They were filed by PNB as an individual claimant and also as lead bank of the PNB consortium and authorized representative of the UBI consortium.
The court allowed the pleas seeking the release of properties of FIL worth ₹108.3 crore and those of FDIPL worth ₹331.6 crore. "The claimants' (banks) quantifiable loss has been recognized by the DRT (Debt Recovery Tribunal) who has passed judgments in their favor," the court noted.
Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are accused of committing a ₹14,000 crore scam by obtaining credit facilities fraudulently from the PNB, a public sector bank. Nirav Modi is currently lodged in a UK jail and is fighting extradition to India.
During its probe, the ED attached several properties owned by Nirav Modi. Several of the properties were confiscated after he was declared a "fugitive economic offender" in December 2019.
The bank and lenders' consortium had objected to the confiscation, as the properties had been mortgaged with them when Modi and Choksi availed of Letters of Undertaking (LOUs).
The court has now also directed the PNB to give an undertaking to return the properties or their value if directed in future.
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