Banking fraud fallout: Court allows ED to grill those held in PNB case

A special CBI court today allowed the Enforcement Directorate's plea seeking permission to interrogate employees of the Nirav Modi group firms who are in judicial custody in the alleged Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud.

"The ED's plea is allowed," said special CBI judge S R Tamboli.

The agency had last week approached the court seeking its nod to question some of the accused, arrested by the CBI, who are in judicial custody at present.

The accused are lodged in high security Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai.

"We had sought permission saying that we have registered a case and we want to interrogate them," said an ED official.

The ED had sought permission to interrogate Vipul Ambani (president, Finance, Fire Star Diamond--a Nirav Modi group firm), Manish Bosamiya (then assistant general manager, Operation, of Firestar International Pvt. Ltd), Miten Pandia (then Financial Manager at Firestar International), Sanjay Rambhia (Auditor of Nirav Modi group), Vipul Chatalia (Vice President, Banking operations, Firestar) and Kavita Mankikar (executive assistant and authorised signatory of Diamond R US, Stellar Diamond, and Solar Exports).

Rs 129 bn PNB scam: I fear for my safety, Mehul Choksi tells CBI in letter

Mehul Choksi, the uncle of diamantaire Nirav Modi and owner of Geetanjali Gems has written to the CBI, according to ANI reports on Tuesday. The co-accused in the PNB fraud case is outside the country. Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi had illegally obtained LoUs from the Punjab National Bank to avail loans from lenders abroad and then defaulted on them. The CBI and Enforcement Directorate are currently investigating the PNB scam.
Here is an excerpt from his letter obtained from news agency ANI's Twitter feed:
Regional Passport Office hasn't communicated with me & my passport remains suspended. I have the deepest respect for your offices and assure you that I am not making any excuse, whatsoever to travel to India.
I reiterate that I am abroad & have earlier also responded to your notices.

Surprisingly, the issues raised remain unaddressed, making my fear of safety rise to extreme levels. Media continues to conduct a trial by itself & blow every issue out of proportion.

Another bank fraud? Borrowers misuse SBI loan of Rs 32 mn to produce a film

In yet another fraud on a public sector bank, as many as 13 people including a kabaddi player got a loan of Rs 32.9 million for buying top-end cars, but 'misused' the money for producing a Tamil film.
When the fraud came to light, the Madras High Court, on a plea from the State Bank of India (SBI), granted an interim injunction against the movie's release.

The fraud was done with the connivance of an auto loan counsellor who allegedly hacked the bank's computers to facilitate the loan sanction and its disbursement.

Justice C V Karthikeyan passed the interim order on a civil suit of the lender restraining White Screen Productions (WSP) from releasing the movie till March 16, 2018.

PNB scam: Court issues non-bailable warrants against Nirav Modi, Choksi

A special court on Saturday issued non-bailable warrants (NBWs) against diamond traders Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi in the alleged Rs 114 billion Punjab National Bank scam.
The court, set up under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), issued the NBWs on applications filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), one of the agencies probing the bank fraud cases registered last month.

The ED had earlier issued summonses to Modi and Choksi, both key accused in the scam cases, asking them to appear before the central agency.

However, the two diamond traders, who are said to have left the country before criminal cases were registered, had failed to appear before the ED, promoting the agency to move the PMLA court for issuance of NBWs against them.

On February 27, the ED had moved the court seeking an NBW against Modi.