Year 2011, Rs 11,400 crore PNB Scam accused Nirav Modi left the country before CBI received complaint from the bank

New Delhi: PNB Scam has shocked the country today as it involves Rs 11,000 crore fraud, making it one of the biggest banking scams.

Billionaire jewellery designer Nirav Modi accused of committing the scam has left the country on January 1 much before the CBI received a complaint from Punjab National Bank on January 29 about a Rs 280-crore fraud, officials said.

This is one more incident of scam in which the scamster easily left the country. Formerly Vijay Mallya and Jatin Mehta managed to have huge loans from the bank, refused to repay later and left the country.

Nirav Modi and his brother Nishal, a Belgian citizen left the country on January 1, while wife Ami, a US citizen, and business partner Mehul Choksi, the Indian promoter of Gitanjali jewellery chain, departed on January 6. Nirav Modi is an India citizen but his brother Nishal and wife Ami are not Indian nationals.

Nirav Modi was booked by the CBI, along with wife, brother and business partner Choksi on January 31, for allegedly cheating the state-run Punjab National Bank to the tune of Rs 280 crore. The bank has sent two more complaints to the CBI on Tuesday, saying the scam was worth more than Rs 11,400 crore.

The agency has issued a look out circular against all the four after registering the first FIR against them. A look out circular is issued by enforcement agencies to all exit and entry ports to inform them about the movement of an accused.

Nirav Modi, who is believed to be in Switzerland, was also present in a group photo of Indian CEOs with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, issued by the Press Information Bureau, in World Economic Forum on January 23, six days before the bank sent its first complaint against him to the CBI. BJP has however categorically said today that Nirav was not part of Prime Minister’s delegation. He could be present there through Confederation of Indian Industries(CII).He went to Davos on his own. He joined the CII photograph when others were there. Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in reply to question asked by media persons, denied it strongly that Nirav Modi had any meeting with Prime Minister.

PNB shares continued to bleed for the second day in a row, ending with a steep loss of 12 per cent at Rs 128.35 apiece on BSE.

PDF copy of CBI’s FIR against Nirav Modi

Punjab National Bank tells media persons:

– This fraud started in year 2011. It was first detected by the he bank and informed to the law enforcement agencies. PNB is committed to its clean banking and therefore it was the first one to detect and inform the law enforcement agency for strong legal action.

– We have kept all the members informed about the developments. We have informed SEBI as per the clean banking agenda.

– Whenever such things come to our knowledge, we correct the system. So far as bank is in question we have capability and capacity to come out of this situation.

– The FIR/complaint we have lodged in various agencies, the documents are seized and raids are being carried out.

– This is very sensitive issue and we don’t want to speak much on this because it may affect the stake holders. Give us some breathing time. The action plan we have fixed to protect the financial interest of banks.

– Our bank has filed complaint against staff member Mr. Shetty and other. We have also taken action against supervisory staff. We have suspended the staff and further procedure is going on.

– We detected it in third week in January and investigated it in three-four days and went to CBI on January 29 and FIR was lodged on 30th.

– Two of our employees have undertaken some unauthorized and fraudulent transactions. Mainly foreign branches of Indian bank are involved barring one case.

– We have conducted consortium meeting because both groups involve large number of banks.

– Information to SEBI was given in time.

– We have gone to CBI because when some of our employees make foreign exchange transaction and makes mistake and our CBS system doesn’t recognize it, we need to do that.

– This is standalone incident in one of our branches.

– When the customer came for renewal of LOU(Letter of Undertaking), we found it was not entered into CBS system. Our staff raised alarm and that’s how it was detected. That was on 25th January.

BJP/Central govt briefing

-Enforcement Directorate(ED) has taken speedy action in wake of complaint by CBI. ED has raided nine properties linked with Nirav Modi. Of them 3 are in Surat and 4 are in Mumbai.

– In this ,there are crores of people who have their surname Modi. What a shame that Congress uses tag such as ChhotaModi.

– I want to caution Congress party that it should stop playing politics of photo. Modi government has in last three and half years given not a single loan that has turned into NPA. When Harshad Mehta scam occurred? In Congress regime. When Satyam scam occurred? In Congress regime. And later coal and 2G, Adarsh and Commonwealth etc scam occurred in Congress regime. And it’s on record that Congress didn’t allow proper investigation. And look the things today, there’s immediate action and none will be spared.

– Some people bypassed the system with involvement of concerned branch of concerned bank. If someone try to protect the accused from the top, he/she will not be spared. Gitanjali jewels fame Mehul Chokshi, who is also booked in this case had his revenue doubled during 2011-2013. That happened with whose blessing? Mehul Chokshi is partner of Nirav Modi. He has also been booked for fraud in this case. The scam was going on since 2011, but it came to light during our government and we have taken immediate actions.

– Our PM Modi had said that he would go into the details of Non Performing Assets(NPA) and not spare anyone.

– If Vijay Mallya is in London, has there been any lack in government procedure against him? CBI is doing it all possible against him without any pressure. Therefore none loan given during out government period has turned into NPA. In few days, Rs 1300 crore properties are seized. Is that a minor achievement?

– We have inquired. Nirav Modi was not part of Prime Minister’s delegation in Davos. He could be present during group photograph through Confederation of Indian Industries(CII). He went to Davos on his own. He joined the CII photograph when the other Indian businessmen were there. Nirav Modi had any meeting with Prime Minister.

DeshGujarat