india

Updated: Jul 02, 2019 19:01 IST

Singapore High Court has ordered freezing of Rs 44.41 crore bank deposit kept in the country by absconder Nirav Modi’s sister Purvi Modi and brother-in-law Maiank Mehta on the request of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the agency said.

The deposit of $6.122 million (Rs 44.41 crore) in the bank account is maintained by British Virgin Islands-based Pavilion Point Corporation, “a company beneficially owned by” the two relatives of Nirav Modi, ED said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

The money has been frozen on the request of ED on the ground that “deposits in the bank account were made from proceeds of crime illegally siphoned off by Nirav Modi” from the Punjab National Bank (PNB), it said.

Nirav Modi is currently under arrest in London for the alleged PNB bank fraud. India is seeking his extradition.

Last week, authorities in Switzerland had frozen four Swiss bank accounts with deposits worth Rs 283.16 crore belonging to Nirav Modi and Purvi Modi part of the PNB fraud case.

The agency had attached this bank account in Singapore as part of a provisional order issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) last year in September, along with the four Swiss bank accounts, and that order was confirmed by the adjudicating authority of the law in March this year.

ED, along with the CBI, is investigating Nirav Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi and others for alleged money laundering and corruption to defraud the Brady House branch of the PNB in Mumbai to the tune of over Rs 13,000 crore. Nirav Modi has been absconding since the alleged bank fraud that came to light last year.

The ED has also filed a chargesheet against Nirav Modi alleging that he laundered and diverted over Rs 6,400 crore of bank funds abroad to dummy companies that were under his and his family’s control.

A total of 24 names were listed in the chargesheet filed under section 45 of the PMLA. It includes Nirav Modi, his father Deepak Modi, brother Neeshal Modi, sister Purvi Modi, brother-in-law Maiank Mehta and designer jewellers’ firms -- Solar Exports, Stellar Diamonds and Diamonds R Us.

(With PTI inputs)