India seizes billionaire jeweller’s RollsRoyce, Porsche in bank fraud probe

MUMBAI, (Reuters) - An Indian financial crime-fighting agency said on Thursday it has seized a Rolls-Royce Ghost, a Porsche Panamera and some half a dozen more luxury vehicles belonging to billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi and his firms, in a probe into an alleged $1.8 billion fraud against state-run Punjab National Bank.

Modi, his companies, and other firms with links to his uncle Mehul Choksi, are at the heart of the alleged fraud that involved illegally issued letters of undertaking (LOUs) from the second-largest Indian state-run lender that were used to get loans from overseas branches of other, mostly Indian banks.

In what has been dubbed the biggest fraud in India’s banking history, police have so far arrested a dozen people - six from the bank and six more from Modi and Choksi’s companies - as they continue the probe.

A lawyer for Modi has denied his client was involved in any fraud. Choksi has not commented but his firm, Gitanjali Gems , has also denied involvement in the alleged fraud.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), an Indian agency focused on foreign exchange and money laundering offences, has been conducting separate searches at homes and offices of Modi. As of last Saturday, it had seized jewellery, gold, diamonds, precious metals and stones that it said were worth 56.74 billion rupees ($872.5 million).