New Delhi, Nov 7 (NIE): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached as many as 11 properties worth Rs 56.8 crore belonging to fugitive jeweller Nirav Modi in connection with its probe in the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam. The properties are located in Dubai and are suspected to have been purchased with money siphoned off by Modi from PNB.
The latest attachment is part of a series of attachments that the ED has been making on foreign shores.
According to the ED, the assets were in the name of “Modi and his group company M/s Firestar Diamond FZE and they bear a market value of USD 7.79 million, which is equivalent to Rs 56.8 crore”. The agency has issued a provisional order for the attachment of these assets under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Last month, the ED attached assets worth Rs 637 crore belonging to Modi and his family members, including two apartments in New York.
Sources in the agency said the ED would soon get multiple letters rogatory (LRs), which are judicial requests, issued by a Mumbai court for the legal formalisation of the attachment of these assets in coordination with its counterpart in Dubai.
Once the LRs are issued, the provisionally attached assets would be frozen by relevant agencies in the countries where the assets are located.
Modi has been absconding since the alleged bank fraud came to light early this year and an Interpol arrest warrant was recently notified against him.