NEW DELHI: A Mumbai's Special Court has allowed the Enforcement Directorate to seize 39 properties worth Rs 500 crore, along with 22 high-end cars of fugitive offender Nirav Modi, who is currently under detention in British jail.
Special Judge S M Menjoge passed the order on an application moved by deputy director, Enforcement Directorate.
Modi, 51-year-old diamond merchant, had already been declared as Fugitive Economic Offender through an order on December 05, 2019 as he left the country under suspicious circumstances on January 1, 2018 after lodging of a PMLA case with an estimated proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 6498 Cr.
The court also allowed the application by the Punjab National Bank for exemption of nine properties from seizure due to either having been mortgaged or hypothecated by Modi and his companies.
Modi's appeal against extradition is awaited judgement by the UK High Court in London.
He is alleged to be the prime conspirator who devised the mode and manner of fraud conspiring with other accused with intent to cheat public sector PNB. He siphoned off and laundered the proceeds of crime through various entities to other overseas companies for concealment, layering and integration into main financial system through acquisition of properties or through investment in financial assets.
The ED claimed part of proceeds of crime has also been brought back to India through a web of companies and layered to hide the criminal source of the funds.
He is the mastermind behind this behemoth scam designing the entire scheme of fraud, and the movement of the monies under the garb of export/import of diamonds and other jewellery. He has rotated the money received on the basis of fraudulent LOUs to his own companies for further use and concealment through a circuitous web of transactions.
The prosecutors further claimed through his calculated plan, he not only rotated the money but also the jewellery and precious stones, while inflating their value in order to justify the transactions made by him. He has actively concealed his role and involvement in the scam by conducting the business through dummy directors and his other employees, to hoodwink the law enforcement authorities. He has also made efforts to obfuscate the investigation in tracing the proceeds of crime and its end use.
