The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday filed a new case against billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi and top officials of his firm Firestar Diamonds for causing losses of another Rs 321 crore to Punjab National Bank, IANS reported.
The CBI said the case was registered after the bank filed a new complaint saying Modi availed different credit facilities between 2013 and 2017, which led to these losses.
The company’s former president of finance, Vipul Ambani, Chief Finance Officer Ravi Gupta, and a few other top directors and officials have also been named in the complaint PNB filed on March 4, The Times of India reported.
PNB alleged that after an internal investigation, it found circular transactions at the bank’s Brady House branch between the Firestar group of companies and other firms promoted by Modi, such as Solar Exports, Stellar Diamonds and Diamond R Us.
The bank also alleged that while it sanctioned credit, foreign letters of guarantee and other facilities between 2013 and 2017 to Modi’s firm, they were not used for the purposes they were sanctioned for.
Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are accused of cheating the Punjab National Bank of Rs 12,703 crore. Both men left the country in early January – the bank had revealed the extent of the scam on February 14.
Mehul Choksi says he is not in a position to travel, say reports
In a reply to a CBI summons, jeweller Choksi said he was not in a position to travel because of “my persisting health problem”, ANI reported. “I had a cardiac procedure in the first week of February 2018 and there are follow-ups pending,” he said.
Earlier, Modi refused to appear before the CBI for questioning, saying he has business to take care of abroad. The CBI then asked him to approach the Indian mission in whichever country he is in so arrangements can be made to bring him to India.
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