The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached four luxury flats, including two in the United States and one in the United Kingdom, besides jewellery and bank accounts, worth ₹637 crore in the Nirav Modi case.
The Directorate has so far attached or seized properties worth ₹4,300 crore in the money laundering cases against Mr. Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi.
Through letters rogatory, the agency will now approach the authorities in foreign jurisdictions, seeking help in getting confirmation of the latest attachments. “We have already got the letters rogatory through a Mumbai special court,” a senior official said.
The ED, in coordination with its counterparts abroad, has brought back diamond-studded jewellery worth ₹22.69 crore, as determined by an independent evaluator, from Hong Kong in 23 shipments. Their stock value had been declared as about ₹85 crore. The jewellery was shipped out after the Central Bureau of Investigation registered the first case against Mr. Nirav Modi and others in January, said the agency.
It has also attached a flat in South Mumbai worth ₹19.5 crore, which is owned by Mr. Nirav Modi’s sister Purvi. It was bought in 2017. The deed for the flat was signed by another brother Neeshal, who also holds the power of attorney. Money for the flat was paid through her Barclays Bank account in Singapore, as alleged.
A Singapore bank account of a British Virgin Islands-based firm, owned by Ms. Purvi and husband Maiank Mehta, with a balance of about ₹44 crore, has also been attached. The list of attachments includes five more overseas accounts with a total balance of ₹278 crore.
London flat
The London flat has been valued at ₹56.97 crore. In 2017, it was bought in the name of Belvedere Holdings Group Limited, managed by Trident Trust (Singapore). The trust has been established by Monte Cristo Trust, whose settler and beneficiary is allegedly Ms. Purvi.
Two flats worth ₹216 crore have been attached in New York. They allegedly belong to Mr. Nirav Modi. They were in the name of The Ithaca Trust. One flat was earlier in the name of Central Park Real Estate LLC, a company of his Firestar Group. Earlier this year, it was transferred to the trust.
