New Delhi: In a major development in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has brought back from Hong Kong polished diamonds, pearls and other jewellery worth approximately Rs 1,350 crore that belonged to entities owned by Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.
According to the ED, 108 consignments of various overseas entities belonging to Modi and Choksi were allegedly kept in the godown of a logistics company in Hong Kong.
“Values of these goods have been declared as Rs 1,350 crore approx. These include polished diamonds, pearls and silver jewellery…The consignments were brought to Navi Mumbai today (Wednesday) and they weigh approximately 2,340 kg,” an ED official told ThePrint.
According to a source in the ED, the jewels were flown in. “Once the Hong Kong authorities gave a clearance and customs cleared the consignments, the jewels were sent to India,” said the source.
While Modi is a diamantaire, Choksi is the managing director of ‘Gitanjali Gems’.
Choksi is also Modi’s maternal uncle. He took over Gitanjali Gems from his father Chinubhai Choksi in 1985 and built an extended product-portfolio by launching brands such as Gili, Nakshatra, Asmi, D’damas, Maya, Diya and Sangini.
Also read: Breakthrough in PNB fraud case, international business head of Gitanjali Gems traced to US
How did the jewellery reach Hong Kong
According to a senior ED officer, these consignments were sent to Hong Kong from Dubai in early 2018. The ED had received an intelligence input about these valuables in July 2018, said the officer, following which they contacted authorities in Hong Kong and UAE.
“We were continuously engaged in discussion with the various authorities in Hong Kong and UAE to bring these valuables back to India. All these jewels are proceeds of crime,” the officer said.
The ED, in a statement, also said that various modalities were finalised and after completing all legal formalities, the consignments were brought back to India.
“Out of the 108 consignments, 32 belong to entities enrolled by Modi and rest to Choksi,” the senior officer quoted above added.
Earlier, the ED had successfully brought back 33 consignments of valuables from Dubai and Hong Kong in the Modi and Choksi fraud case. These were valued on arrival and subsequently seized in India. Independent valuers had then assessed these consignments to be worth Rs 137 crore approximately.
Also read: The 5 unknown Indian businessmen who top ED’s list of ‘36’ fugitives
Over a year ago Malya was ready to return the debt with interest but GOI didn’t considered his plea.Probably GOI wanted extradition.Now ED recovered over thousand crore from Nirav Modi.The target first should be recovery what lost,then may let off or set off.
I use to deal with mehul choksi in 92 and 93 . Super intelligent, super smart. Nirav use to work for mehul as they were related . Niravs mom who committed sucied was mehuls sister . And to help his sisters son nirav he brought him to mumbia from Antwerp . Mehul was helpful to nirav. Trained nirav in Buying diamonds from indian market ( FYI buying diamonds from indian market is rocket science) . And in 1999 nirav left his job from mehuls company Geetanjli diamonds and started his own business . Because nirav was his sisters son mehul gave him 3 million dollars as a payment towards niravs initial years working for him . This was their last professional partnership . They never ever worked with each other after 99 . Mehul choksi is a scapegoat for indian government. A super smart intelligent businessman was destroyed by Indian government so that they can make example of him . Shame on you BJP
Is no one going to talk about the fact that the UK is the shelter for most of these white collar crooks and rich criminals, from both India & Pakistan?! They’ve sheltered everyone from musician Nadeem (who is wanted for murder of T-series Director at the time in the late 90s), to Vijay Mallaya to Nirav Modi recently, and they create a convoluted and lengthy process to extradite them back to India, which never happens.