Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi’s Jewellery Worth 1,350 Crores Brought To India
MUMBAI: Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday brought back valuable jewellery belonging to fugitive diamante Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. The haul is worth Rs 1350 crore and includes polished diamonds, pearls, jewellery made of silver and pearls.
The packages have been brought to Mumbai, according to officials. Officials say of the 108 consignments, 32 belong to Nirav Modi and 76 belong to Mehul Choksi.
The agency has “successfully imported” from Hong Kong around 108 packages of jewellery and gems belonging to firms controlled by Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi. The two were planning to fly these consignments to Dubai from Hong Kong in 2018 while evading officials on their trail, investigators say.
These include polished diamonds, pearls, pearl and silver jewellery. Investigators say the entire shipment is valued at around Rs 1,350 crore and weighs 2,340 kg. ED brought back 108 consignments of the valuables. The total weight came to about 2340 kg.
Over 2,340 kg of polished diamonds, pearls and jewellery worth Rs 1,350 crore that fraud-accused jewelers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi allegedly dispatched to Dubai while they were being investigated has been brought back to India by the Enforcement Directorate.
The jewellery is believed to be linked with Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksey’s firm. ED brought the consignments from Hong Kong. There, the valuables were stored at a godown. These consignments had been sent to Hong Kong from Dubai in early 2018 and the officers of the Enforcement Directorate had received intelligence input about these valuables in July 2018.
The ED said that its officers were continuously engaged in discussion with various authorities in Hong Kong to bring these valuables back to India. “Various modalities were finalised and after completing all the legal formalities, these consignments have now been brought back to India.”
These valuables were evaluated on arrival and subsequently seized in India. Independent valuers assessed these earlier consignments to be worth around Rs 137 crore, the ED said.
Both, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi are wanted by Indian investigation agencies for allegedly defrauding Punjab National Bank (PNB) of Rs 14,000 crore. Earlier this year, Nirav Modi was arrested by authorities in UK and even jailed.
Following tipoffs by intelligence agencies, the Enforcement Directorate launched an effort to persuade Hong Kong to import the jewellery to India so it could be officially seized in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan scam case.
Nirav Modi, 48, and Mehul Choksi, 60, are accused in a scam involving fake guarantees in the name of state-run PNB to secure overseas loans. Both fled India in 2018, before the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) began investigations. Both the businessmen are being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
(Bureau Report with Agency Inputs ).
