PNB scam: Gitanjali Gems promoter Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi are wanted by probe agencies
Forty-one properties worth Rs 1,210 crore in the name of PNB scam accused Mehul Choksi and his firms that have been attached by the Enforcement Directorate, are assets bought with illegal money, an anti-corruption authority has said.
The ED has provisionally attached 15 flats and 17 offices in Mumbai, a mall in Kolkata, a four-acre farmhouse in Alibaug and 231 acres of land at Nashik, Nagpur, Panvel in Maharashtra and Villupuram in Tamil Nadu, in February this.
"I find that immovable properties provisionally attached are all involved in money laundering," a recent order issued by member (law) of the adjudicating authority of the PMLA, Tushar V Shah, said in a recent order.
The authority is a quasi-judicial body that adjudicates over PMLA attachment of assets made by the ED.
Sources said the ED will now move to seize these properties. The central probe agency had issued a provisional order for attachment of these assets as part of its criminal probe against Choksi, his company Gitanjali Gems and associated firms and their associates, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The attached assets included a 170-acre park in Hyderabad's Ranga Reddy district valued at over Rs 500 crore. Four flats in Borivali (east) area of the Maharashtra capital and nine others in Khemu Towers in Santacruz (east) have also been attached as part of the action.
"The total value of the 41 seized assets controlled by Choksi is estimated over Rs 1,210 crore," the ED said.
Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi and others are being investigated by the ED and other probe agencies after the bank fraud came to light early this year, following a complaint by Punjab National Bank that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of over Rs 12,000 crore.
Choksi is living in the Caribbean nation of Antigua and India has sought his extradition.