Mumbai: Claiming that Nirav Modi’s sister Purvi and her husband Maiank Mehta facilitated the fugitive diamantaire divert Punjab National Bank funds and were co-conspirators in the ₹13,850 crore fraud at the public sector bank, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has opposed the permission granted to Mehta to travel back to Hong Kong.
The central agency on Friday filed an application before a special PMLA court, stating that it intended to move the Bombay high court (HC) challenging June 16 and June 30 orders passed by the special court allowing Mehta to travel back to Hong Kong. Interestingly, ED has accepted Mehta as an approver in its money laundering case against Nirav Modi and the special PMLA court has granted him a pardon in January 2021.
In its reply opposing the plea filed by Mehta in the special court to allow him to travel back to Hong Kong, CBI has said that in November 2013, an amount of 30 Million USD was transferred from M/s. Pacific Diamond, FZE, a dummy or shell company floated by Nirav Modi, to Maiank Mehta’s account maintained with Barclays Bank, Singapore.
“Investigation revealed that the applicant (Maiank), and his wife Purvi Modi are deeply involved in the commission of the crime and they are facilitators of Nirav Modi in rotating/diverting/syphoning funds of PNB obtained through fraudulent LOUs,” said the agency. “We have now found incriminating material which sufficiently establishes the role of the applicant (Maiank Mehta) and his wife Purvi Modi as co-conspirators of the crime,” it added.
According to the CBI, Mehta, a British citizen, and Hong Kong resident, had later transferred the amount to the bank accounts of his wife Purvi, who in turn converted the amounts into fixed deposits.
Mehta’s lawyer has, however, contended that the CBI’s plea, seeking a stay on the earlier court order permitting Mehta to travel to Hong Kong, was not maintainable and should not be considered, especially because the order was passed after hearing from the central agency.
Mehta also said that he has been and will continue to cooperate with the investigating agency, which is also one of the conditions imposed by the special court on him while allowing him to return to his home.
On June 16, Mehta was allowed to travel back to Hong Kong for three months to attend to his personal and professional commitments. However, on June 17, he was stopped at the airport by immigration and prevented from flying to Hong Kong.
