PNB fraud: ED writes to 16 more banks on loans taken by Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi

February 25, 2018 08:00

The Enforcement Directorate has expanded its probe against diamantaires Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi to include loans taken by them from 16 other banks over the past few years, apart from the Punjab National Bank. This may take the quantum of alleged losses caused by them to banks to nearly Rs 20,000 crore, said sources.

ED Director Karnal Singh has written to the banks for details of the loans given to the two, the present status of the loans, the collaterals offered, and the form and nature of the loans.

We are at present seeking information from banks which have given bigger loans. We have learnt that these loans have been granted at collaterals which are just 12 per cent of the total value of the loans. We want to see on what basis these loans were granted and whether these are still recoverable. However, we have not asked any bank to file a complaint with us, an ED official said.

Sources said that the CBI and ED probe into the alleged Rs 11,400-crore fraud perpetrated by Modi and Choksi on PNB indicates that more than two dozen banks may have been exposed to loans ranging between Rs 5,000 crore and Rs 10,000 crore.

Both Choksi and Modi, who left the country just before PNB lodged a complaint of fraud, havent replied to summons. With the authorities attaching their properties and accounts, they are unlikely to be in a position to pay the loans any time soon. The government on Saturday revoked their passports.

On February 16, the ministry of external affairs had suspended the validity of their passports with immediate effect for a period of four weeks, and had given them a weeks time to respond as to why their passports should not be impounded or revoked.

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