Pune DRT orders Nirav Modi to pay Rs 7,300 crore

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Jul 11, 2019

The Pune Debt Recovery Tribunal has ordered jeweller Nirav Modi and his aides to pay Rs 7,300 crore ($1 billion) with interest to the Punjab National Bank. Modi’s family Singapore bank accounts have also been ordered to be frozen.

As part of the ongoing fraud case in which Modi stands accused of fraud at the Punjab National Bank, he was ordered to pay Rs 7,300 crore with interest to the PNB last week at a ruling in the Pune DRT. The presiding officer Deepak Thakkar passed the order in response to two cased registered by the PNB.

Nirav Modi’s passport has been revoked for the past year, the Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan told the Lok Sabha on July 10. "Ministry revoked the passport of Nirav Modi as per provisions of Section 10(3)(c) of The Passports Act,1967, on February 23, 2018," said Muraleedharan in parliament, as reported by Asian News International. Muraleedharan said that Indian authorities would not approve any travel for Modi.

Last week, the Singapore High Court ordered the freezing of bank deposits in the country belonging to Modi’s sister and brother-in-law in connection to the PNB fraud case. The bank deposits were valued at Rs 44.41 crore, the Enforcement Directorate revealed, as reported by the Press Trust of India. 

The ED has asked the Singapore High Court to freeze the accounts which were registered in the name of Pavillion Point Corporation based in the British Virgin Islands. The business is "beneficially owned" by Purvi Modi and Maiank Mehta.

Nirav Modi is currently being held in Wandsworth prison in south-west London, UK. He awaits his first extradition case management hearing where a timeline for his extradition case is expected to be laid out.