New Delhi: Billionaire diamond merchant Nirav Modi and his business partner Mehul Choksi, who are at the forefront of Rs 11,400 crore alleged fraud in PNB, had their passports revoked on Saturday, said sources.
Earlier, on February 16, their passports were suspended for four weeks by the Ministry of External Affairs.
“On the advice of the Enforcement Directorate, the passport issuing authority in the Ministry of External Affairs has suspended the validity of passports of Mr. Nirav Deepak Modi and Mr. Mehul Chinubhai Choksi with immediate effect for a period of four weeks u/s 10(A) of the Passports Act 1967,” said a press release by MEA.
Two days ago, in an emailed reply to the ED’s investigating officer, Nirav Modi cited the temporary suspension of his passport and pending business issues as reasons for his non-appearance before the probe agency.
The ED has now issued fresh summons against diamantaire Nirav Modi, official sources said. Modi was summoned under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Modi, Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple probe agencies, including the CBI and the Income Tax department, after it recently came to light, following a complaint from the PNB, that they allegedly cheated the state-run bank of thousands of crore with the likely involvement of a few employees of the bank.
Letters of Undertaking and Foreign Letters of Credit were used to raise and roll over the amount over several years before FIRs were lodged by the bank on January 29 and February 14, respectively.
Both Modi and Choksi left the country before the cases were lodged against them.
A massive crackdown on their properties in India is underway.
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