Businessman Nirav Modi moved a special court on Monday to oppose the Enforcement Directorate’s plea to have him declared a “fugitive economic offender”, PTI reported. Modi is an accused in an alleged scam worth over Rs 13,000 crore at the Punjab National Bank.
Modi’s lawyer filed 10 applications before a court set up under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The court will hear the matter on November 19, according to ANI.
The application argued that the Enforcement Directorate’s complaint was not in accordance with the law. The plea by the agency was signed by a person claiming to be a deputy director who did not submit any authorisation documents as required under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, claimed the application. According to the law, a deputy director can sign such a complaint only if authorised by the director of the agency.
The application also said that the agency had filed the complaint under the erstwhile Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance, which has since been replaced by an Act of Parliament. The actions intended on the basis of the ordinance cannot continue as it has ceased to operate, said the application, adding that the complaint was not maintainable in its present form and was liable to be dismissed.
Under the new Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018, a fugitive economic offender is defined as “a person against whom an arrest warrant has been issued in respect of a scheduled offence and who has left India so as to avoid criminal prosecution, or being abroad, refuses to return to India to face criminal prosecution”.
The fraud came to light in February when the Punjab National Bank informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that it had detected “fraudulent and unauthorised transactions” worth Rs 11,380 crore at a branch in South Mumbai. A few officials of the public sector bank had allegedly issued fraudulent Letters of Undertaking to Modi’s companies. Modi had already fled the country. The Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation are investigating the matter.
The bank revised the figure to Rs 12,703 crore and later to around Rs 13,645 crore.
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