The investigative agencies continued with its searches in various locations in the Rs 11,400 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam involving diamond czar Nirav Deepak Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi on Sunday, seizing more diamonds and gold worth Rs 20 crore.
Also, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is moving ahead to attach at least two dozen immovable properties under the Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMlA). In Delhi, the agency has conducted raids at the Gitanjali brand counter in MGF mall in Saket, Ambience mall in Vasant Kunj, Gitanjali counter shoppers stop in Janakpuri, RCube in Rajouri Garden, Regal jewellers and Gitanjali store in Dwarka Sector 11 and Rohini.
The ED has conducted searches on 45 locations in 15 cities — including Hyderabad, Guhawati, Jalandhar, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chandigarh and lucknow — across the country and found some incriminating sensitive documents pertain to the PNB scam.
Meanwhile, the CBI is examining balance sheets of 18 India-based subsidiaries of the Gitanjali group of companies promoted by Mehul to understand the money trail of funds taken from various banks on the basis of Rs 11,384 crore of guarantees furnished by the PNB. On Sunday, the agency questioned around half dozen of bank employees.
According to the ED, it raided 10 places in Bengaluru, seven in Delhi, five each in Kolkata and Mumbai, four each in Chandigarh and Hyderabad, three each in Patna and lucknow, two in Ahmedabad and one each in Chennai and Guwahati on Sunday.
It also conducted raids in Goa, Jaipur, Srinagar and Jalandhar cities whose locations are yet to be confirmed, the sources said. In Raipur, it has sealed Gitanjali Gems outlet and seized Rs 1.27 crore.
ED sources said during the investigation it has been found that Nirav had directed his company directors and their family members to hide precious gems with several thousands crore at their friends places.
The ED on Friday and Saturday also conducted raids at 35 and 21 locations across India respectively in connection with the case and seized diamonds, gold and jewellery worth Rs 5,674 crore.
At least 200 shell firms and “benami” assets have come under the scanner of the investigative agencies, ED and I-T department, till Sunday.
CBI sources said arrested bank officials during interrogation disclosed that for every letters of undertaking (loU), a percentage of the amount was fixed depending upon the amount to be sanctioned. The commission collected from the client was then distributed among all employees of the PNB involved in the scam, the sources said.
The CBI officials said the agency is continuing the questioning of arrested bank officials — Gokulnath Shetty (retired) and Manoj Kharat and a Nirav company’s signatory and other officials of the PNB, to find out the money trail and depth of the alleged scam, spread across thousands of documents and digital records.
They said the agency is also analysing records recovered from a huge server seized during searches after registration of the FIR against Mehuli.
When asked about possible quid pro quo involved in the alleged scam perpetrated in collusion with billionaire diamond merchants Mehuli and his nephew Nirav and PNB officials, they said they are still looking into it and it cannot be clearly said if there were regular payments or not.
“Right now the focus is to understand the depth of the scam, the movement of funds and role of other senior officials,” an official said.
One of the biggest financial scams of the country surfaced when companies of Nirav and Mehul approached the PNB’s Brady road branch, Mumbai, in January this year seeking loU for payments to suppliers.
The official handling the case sought 100 per cent cash guarantee before any such letters could be issued to which the company officials said no such guarantee was sought in the past. The official checked the records which did not show such loU to Nirav or Mehuli’s company which led to suspicion.
It is alleged that Shetty, for the last seven years, was bypassing core banking system of the bank and issuing loUs fraudulently.
Shetty and Kharat sent messages of these loUs using an international messaging system for banking systems called SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) which is used to pass instructions among banks globally to transfer funds.
It is estimated that millions of messages are sent daily using the SWIFT technology globally wherein every member bank can send or receive messages of financial transactions to another bank worldwide.
The PNB officials sent these messages to Indian banks--Canara Bank, State Bank of India, Bank of India, Axis Bank, Allahabad bank--located in Antwerp, Hong Kong, Bahrain, Mauritius, Frankfurt without making entries in the banking software about the loUs.
These loUs and letters of Credits (lC) worth Rs 11,384 crore were getting renewed or issued afresh during last six years without coming in the notice of the bank. The Indian banks abroad did not mind as their money was safe (under guarantee from the PNB) and increasing because of accruing interest.