The Enforcement Directorate on Friday seized assets worth ₹549 crore in the Punjab National Bank’s fraudulent transactions case, taking the total amount of seizure to ₹5,649 crore. A money laundering case was also registered against diamond merchant Nirav Modi’s uncle Mehul Choksi.
The agency searched 35 locations across 11 States. “The searches were conducted in Goa, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Kolkata, Delhi, Patna, Lucknow, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Chennai,” said a senior official.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes has shared details of 29 properties linked to Mr. Modi in different parts of the country. Besides, six more properties have been identified for further legal action.
The Directorate, through Indian offices of Mr. Modi, has got messages sent to the overseas outlets of the businessman in New York, London, Macao and Beijing, instructing them to stop all trade forthwith.
“They have instructed that no article should be sold from those outlets,” said the official.
The agency plans to issue summonses to Mr. Modi and his relatives.
‘More officials involved’
Investigations have revealed that the bank had not only failed to detect the fraudulent transactions, which were made without any entry into the Core Banking Software, it was also unaware of the delayed repayments that were being received on account of the Letters of Undertaking (LoU) issued in favour of the companies involved.
Investigating agencies suspect that some officials of the overseas branches of other India-based banks were also involved in concealing the alleged fraud.
