National News
Delhi HC refuses to halt ED probe on Nirav Modi firm
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to halt Enforcement Directorate’s probe and seizure of Nirav Modi firm’s assets saying it needs details of the case from the agency.
A Bench of Justice S. Muralidhar and Justice I.S. Mehta directed the ED to file relevant case details along with sequence of events.
The Bench said it will consider Mr. Modi-owned Firestar Diamond International’s plea on March 19. An officer involved in the probe will also be present in court for the next hearing.
“We don’t have the details of the case right now. Your petitions also does not have much details. We want to consider the (plea for) stay after we have some basic facts before us,” the Bench said.
Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, appearing for Firestar, contended, “I can understand search. I can understand seizure. But they have taken away my properties and put them in locker of PNB.”
Firestar had moved the High Court challenging certain provision of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and quashing of seizure of its movable properties by the ED.
The company has also sought direction to the ED to supply copy of the search warrant and the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) pursuant to which the search and seizure was conducted on its premises. The petition is coming up for hearing before on Wednesday.
The ED has provisionally attached some immovable assets of the Nirav Modi group as part of its action against the diamond trader and his uncle, Mehul Choksi, in connection with the ₹11,500-crore fraudulent Letters of Undertaking case.
The ED had last month said some properties registered in the name of Mr. Modi and his firms in various parts of Maharashtra were provisionally attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, on Saturday.
The Act empowers the investigating agency to attach assets of the accused to reimburse the complainant for losses sustained.
A special court last week issued non-bailable warrants (NBWs) against Mr. Modi and Mr. Choksi. It also allowed ED’s application seeking Letters of Rogatory (LR) to seven countries — Malaysia, Armenia, France, China, Japan, Russia and Belgium — in connection with the case.
The ED had earlier issued summons to Mr. Modi and Mr. Choksi asking them to appear before the central agency. But, the diamond traders, who are said to have left the country before criminal cases were registered, have not appeared before before it prompting the agency to move the court.
Replying to ED summons seeking his personal appearance before the investigating team Mr. Modi had wrote an email to the agency saying he was unable to come back to India as his passport had been suspended. He, however, did not disclose his current whereabouts.
Mr. Modi, in the email, also claimed that he was busy in some business work and that he had been trying to set things right as regards the pending repayment of funds to banks, an official had said.
