The Punjab National Bank on Saturday moved the Hong Kong High Court against fugitive diamond jeweller Nirav Modi, who is accused in a scam worth over Rs 13,000 crores, ANI reported. The bank will also approach the courts of other countries where Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi have assets and businesses.
On April 12, the Indian government had said that it was still awaiting a reply from Hong Kong authorities to surrender to it Nirav Modi, who is accused of defrauding the Punjab National Bank.
Both Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi had fled abroad in January, weeks before news of the fraud first emerged in public. The Central Bureau of Investigation has issued non-bailable warrants against the two.
In February, the CBI had written to Modi asking him to come to India and cooperate with the investigation, but he had replied that he cannot return as he has a business to take care of abroad. A few officials at the public sector bank had allegedly issued fraudulent Letters of Undertaking – essentially letters of credit telling others banks that it would meet a customer’s liabilities – to Modi’s companies. Some bank officials have been arrested and are under investigation.
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