Come up with plan to repay dues, scam-hit PNB tells Nirav Modi
new delhi — Scam-hit Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Thursday asked billionaire diamond jeweller Nirav Modi to come up with a concrete and implementable plan to settle the loss caused to it by fraudulent issuance of Letter of Undertakings (LoU) through one of its branches. The PNB said this in its response to a mail written by Nirav Modi, who allegedly cheated the bank of Rs11,400 crore in connivance with a few bank officials.
“You were getting LoUs issued illegally and in an unauthorised way through few bank officials. At no stage such facilities were extended by our bank to your three partner firms,” sources said citing mail response sent by PNB General Manager (international banking division) Ashwini Vats to Nirav Modi.
When the illegal activities of Nirav Modi surfaced, the bank brought them to the notice of the law enforcement agencies as they apparently violated FEMA and anti-money laundering law, sources said.
“Your commitment and undertaking for sparing of the total liability was not backed by providing upfront amounts and timelines. However, should you have any concrete and implementable plan, do revert back,” the mail said.
Nirav Modi in his letter to the bank had said that the over-zealousness on the part of the bank to deal with the issue destroyed his jewellery brand and also jeopardised his ability to clear the dues. Meanwhile, the ED on Thursday said it has frozen mutual funds and shares worth Rs945.2 million of the Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi groups in connection with the probe against them. It also seized nine high-end luxury cars of Modi as part of its investigation against him under the criminal provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. — PTI