Our Correspondent
Mumbai, June 11:
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday brought back 108 consignments belonging to Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi including polished diamonds, silver jewellery and pearls worth Rs 1,350 crore of declared value from Hong Kong.
“ED brought back 108 consignments containing polished diamonds, pearls, pearl and silver jewelry etc worth Rs. 1350 Crores (approx) of various overseas entities of Nirav Modi & Mehul Choksi which were kept in the godown of a logistics company in Hong Kong”, ED tweeted. Out of 108 consignments, 32 consignments belong to the entities controlled by Nirav Modi, while rest belong to entities controlled by Mehul Choksi.
The jewellery belongs to Modi and Choksi wanted in connection with Rs 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case. Nirav Modi is in London jail, while his uncle Mehul Choksi is hiding in Antigua. Extradition proceedings against both accused have been initiated by the Indian investigative agencies. Last year in a media interview Antigua & Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne had said “Mehul Choksi is a crook, Indian authorities are free to come and interrogate him.
The jewellery was kept in the godown of a logistics company in Hong Kong. The consignments were brought back to Mumbai on Wednesday and the weigh around 2,340 Kg.
“These consignments had been sent to Hong Kong from Dubai in early 2018 and the officers of the Enforcement Directorate had received intelligence input about these valuables in July 2018. The officers were continuously engaged in discussion with various authorities in Hong Kong to bring these valuables back to India,” said the agency. After finalising various modalities and legal formalities, these consignments were dispatched from Hong Kong which reached India.
Earlier, ED had successfully brought back 33 consignments of valuables from Dubai and Hong Kong in cases against Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. These valuables were valued on arrival and were subsequently seized in India. Independent valuers assessed the earlier consignments to be worth around Rs 137 crore.