Diamonds, gems, and jewelry weighing over 2300 kg and amounting to Rs. 1350 crores are now under the seizure of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) of India. These consignments of valuables were brought back to India from Hong Kong yesterday. The valuable goods were kept in a godown under the possession of a logistics company in Hong kong.
According to ED, these assets belonged to Nirav Modi (48) and his uncle Mehul Choksi (60). The nephew-uncle-duo is the prime accused of the $2 billion Punjab National Bank(PNB) scandal. They tipped off PNB with fake guarantees for the disbursement of overseas loans for their Firms. Both the businessmen were being probed by the Enforcement Directorate since then.
The intelligence unit of ED had been tracking these consignments ever since it was first harbored from Dubai to Hong Kong in 2018.
“Out of the 108 consignments seized, 32 belonged to the firms of Nirav Modi and rest belonged to the firms of his uncle.” as per Officials.
“The agency had been under constant discussions with the authorities of Hong Kong to bring these assets back to India,” an official said. After completing all the legal formalities, the valuables were dispatched from Hong kong and reached Mumbai yesterday.
This is not the first time ED got their hands on the scammers. Earlier the Agency had confiscated valuables worth Rs. 137 crores belonging to Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi and had successfully auctioned their luxuries including Rolls Royce and exorbitant paintings to compensate for the loss.
Nirav Modi is serving a prison sentence in South London Jail since March last year, under the charges brought up by the Indian Government. Whereas, his uncle Choksi managed to get citizenship of Antigua & Barbados Isles and is currently in hiding.
[zombify_post]