PNB fraud: Nirav Modi jewellery estimated at less than 30 pc of book value
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized jewellery and pearls valued at over Rs 485 crore from the firms and residence of fugitive diamond jeweller Nirav Modi. This is just 27 per cent of the book value of about Rs 1,780 crore that was earlier cited, sources have told The Indian Express.
ED is investigating about Rs 7,000 crore assets of designer diamond jeweller Nirav Modi fraudulent transactions at the state-owned Punjab National Bank. According to sources, Modi’s companies located in Surat have shown an over-valuation of jewellery and pearls.
The value of polished diamonds held by the Maharashtra units of Firestar Diamond has also been reduce from Rs 153 crore to Rs 83 crore.
In February, Enforcement Directorate (ED) said in a statement that total seizure of diamonds, gold and jewellery in the Nirav Modi case has gone up to Rs 5,649 crore.
The DRI has stopped several consignments that were being exported to Hong Kong, UAE, US and Canada on information provided by intelligence agencies. The jewellery that was being exported to Hong Kong and UAE were of very low quality, according to agencies. The cost of the consignment was less than half of the value declared by the company.
The stock of duty-free raw materials available at Modi's Surat factories was detected by the DRI, and the valuation of the stock was found to be only Rs 100 crore as against Rs 1,100 crore declared by the company.
The total value of pearls was at Rs 4 crore instead of declared value of Rs 100 crore. A case of duty evasion amounting Rs 52 crore was booked against Nirav Modi by the DRI in March.
