More PNB lapses surface as Choksi faces fresh raids

Decision on Nirav’s return in due course, says lawyer

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted fresh searches on Sunday at over four dozen premises linked to Gitanjali Group chairman Mehul Choksi even as more lapses in Punjab National Bank’s (PNB) internal processes and inadequate oversight came to the fore in an estimated ₹11,400 crore fraud.

Interviews with executives from several state-run banks and experts revealed that billionaire jewellery designer Nirav Modi and companies linked to him were able to siphon funds in concert with some PNB executives because of the failure of the bank to integrate its own transaction-recording software with the international financial messaging system.

Modi, law-enforcement agencies were tipped off, might be in Hong Kong where he has considerable financial interests, officials said, though his lawyer Vijay Aggarwal refused to disclose the whereabouts of his client. Aggarwal is in Dubai to formulate strategy with Modi’s legal associates.

“Informers have told us that Nirav Modi in all likelihood is in Hong Kong and his maternal uncle Mehul Choksi is in the US, but in the absence of any official confirmation from Interpol, we cannot say anything conclu- sively,” said a senior officer, entrusted with the probe into the PNB scam, who did not wish to be named. When HT contacted Modi’s lawyer Aggarwal in Dubai, he said, “Yes, I am in Dubai to hold meeting in connection with the case and I am in touch with Nirav Modi but I cannot disclose his whereabouts.”

Asked about Modi’s plans to return India, Aggarwal said, “My client has not fled from India and he is being hounded by multiple agencies simultaneously. A decision with regard to his return will be taken in due course.”

Modi, his wife Ami, brother Neeshal and maternal uncle Choksi left India in the first week of January.