How Nirav Modi stopped shell cos’ executives from returning to India

How Nirav Modi stopped shell cos’ executives from returning to India
After much pleading, they were allegedly released only in batches of two; the key link to PNB is yet to return.

Death threats to witnesses weren’t the only alleged tricks in Nirav Modi’s bag. The fugitive billionaire jeweller also allegedly used powers of persuasion and forced confinement on dummy directors of his overseas shell companies to dissuade them from returning to India after investigation into the Rs 13,600-crore PNB scam began in January last year.

The funds from banks were diverted to these shell companies.

Fearing that the dummy directors would spill the beans on the one of the biggest frauds in the Indian banking sector, Nirav seamlessly switched between intimidation and inducement to convince them that they would arrested and their assets seized if they returned home, said sources in the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Citing statements of witnesses, the sources said these dummy directors were first assembled in Dubai, UAE, and then flown to Cairo in Egypt for temporary “confinement against their wishes”. “The entire cost, including airfares”, was allegedly borne by Modi, said a source.

During the period of their forced stay, passports of the dummy directors were allegedly taken away. They were allowed to return only after much “cajoling and persuasion”—and that too only two at a time and after signing a few “legal documents”, said sources.

According to a source, a key case accused, Subhash Parab, an executive of Firestar India (a jewellery firm headed by Nirav) who was called the “link with the bank”, was allegedly sent to Cairo, too, with the others and is yet to return from there. It is also alleged that phones of the dummy directors were “destroyed”.

Details of these alleged attempts to thwart investigation were presented in a London court on March 29 during a hearing of Nirav’s second bail application, which was subsequently rejected. Mirror had reported that he had also allegedly threatened Ashish Lad, one of the dummy directors and witness in the case, that if he didn’t accept Rs 20 lakh and provide a false statement, he would be killed. Lad, who had recorded his statement with the ED, had alleged that he had received a death threat over the phone while in Egypt from Nirav.

Visa/residence cards of 7 countries

The court was also that Modi allegedly held business visa/employment visa/Schengen visa/residential visa of seven countries, including the USA, the UK, Hong Kong, the UAE, Singapore and Canada, as discovered by the ED. In December 2017, Modi also allegedly attempted to seek citizenship of Vanuatu Island in the South Pacific Ocean, which was later turned down. Nirav’s lawyer who represents him in India declined to comment on the allegations. Nirav and other accused have denied all wrongdoing.

ED has accused three companies of Modi of obtaining funds worth Rs 6,498 crore, despite their ineligibility, via letters of undertaking (LoU) by the PNB’s Mumbai branch. The obtained funds were allegedly partly utilised for payment to 17 overseas shell companies of Nirav via dubious export/import and also for offsetting earlier LOUs.

Meanwhile, the tenure of Satyabrata Kumar, the joint director of ED’s Mumbai zone, has been extended by the finance ministry. Kumar, who led the probe into the PNB case and the money-laundering case against liquor baron Vijay Mallya, represented India in the UK to liaise with Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which represents India in the UK court, for hearings related to Mallya’s extradition and Nirav’s bail plea.
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