ED for confiscation of ₹7,000 cr Nirav assets

NEW DELHI: The ED is set to move a special court in Mumbai to seek permission for "immediate confiscation" of about Rs 7,000 crore assets of designer diamond jeweller Nirav Modi under the recently promulgated Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance. The agency, empowered by the Union Government to enact the new power in the country, will seek an official declaration to categorise Nirav Modi as a "fugitive" based on its prosecution complaint (charge sheet) filed before a special court in Mumbai last week under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

On May 24, the ED had filed its first charge sheet in the over USD 2 billion PNB fraud case involving diamantaire Nirav Modi and his associates stating that over Rs 6,400 crore of bank funds were allegedly laundered abroad to dummy companies by him and others. A total of 24 accused have been listed in the charge sheet, filed under section 45 of the PMLA, including Nirav Modi, his father, brother Neeshal Modi, sister Purvi Modi, brother-in-law Mayank Mehta and the designer jewellers' firms – Ms Solar Exports, Stellar Diamonds and Diamonds R Us.

The court is expected to take cognisance of the 12,000 page charge sheet tomorrow and the counsel for the agency will subsequently seek its permission to invoke the provisions of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance against Modi and immediately begin the procedure to confiscate all the assets "of and linked to" Modi in India and abroad, said a senior official .

A court-issued non-bailable warrant is already pending against Modi and the ED has also moved the Interpol to get a global arrest warrant issued against him, sometime back. The agency will initiate the same action against absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya, against whom the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI had filed their respective charge sheets last year.