India News | Special PMLA Court Allows ED to Confiscate 39 Properties of Fugitive Economic Offender Nirav Modi

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 20 (ANI): A special PMLA court in Mumbai on Thursday allowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to confiscate 39 properties of fugitive economic offender Nirav Modi.

The court also allowed PNB's application seeking nine properties either mortgaged or hypothecated by Nirav Modi and his companies.

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Nirav Modi was declared a fugitive economic offender as per Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 in December 2019 by the Special PMLA Court.

Earlier in July this year, the ED attached movable properties worth Rs 253.62 crore of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi's group of companies in Hong Kong.

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The attached assets included gems and jewellery and bank balances amounting to USD 30.98 million and HKD 5.75 million, equivalent to Rs 253.62 crore (as of Friday), an ED statement said.

On the basis of FIR under Section 420, 467, 471 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), ED had initiated an investigation by recording Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in the case of Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud of Rs 6,498.20 crore.

During the course of the PMLA investigation, some assets of Nirav Modi group of companies in Hong Kong were identified in the form of gems and jewellery lying in private vaults and bank balances in accounts maintained in Hong Kong, which is provisionally attached vide instant attachment order of Rs 253.62 crore under Section 5 of PMLA, 2002, said the ED.

During investigations, previously ED has attached movable and immovable assets of Nirav Modi and associates to the tune of Rs 2,396.45 crore in India and abroad. (ANI)

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