Everyone might be familiar with the scam Vijay Malaya did with SBI but this is much bigger. Nirav Modi, billionaire diamond merchant was taking money from PNB and officials never knew when it became Rs.11,400 crore from just Rs.280 crore. CBI has been seizing the properties of Modi and his business partner Mehul Choksi but they will never be able to recover the huge amount.
Here are 10 things you must know about the fraud:
- CBI INTERVENING
On February 5th, CBI booked Nirav Modi, Nishal and his wife Ami and other business partners on cheating Punjab National Bank for Rs.280 crore.
- PNB PRESS CONFERENCE
On the eve of Valentine’s Day, PNB MD Sunil Mehta’s press conference revealed a shocking news to the entire country. He revealed that there were other fraud transactions which accounted to a sum of Rs.11,400 crore involving Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.
- ONE OF THE RICHEST IN INDIA
Nirav Modi was ranked at 57th place in Forbes Richest Indians. He had his Nirav Modi chain of diamond stores spread across the globe. His designs have been famous all over the world and Bollywood’s famous Priyanka Chopra and Sidharth Malhotra were the brand ambassadors of it.
- OVER 500 LOUs
Total of 500 LOUs was issued by PNB officials to Nirav Modi and his business partners which they cashed overseas using private and public sector banks.
- SIX PNB OFFICIALS ARRESTED
As of today, CBI has arrested six PNB officials who issued these LOUs for Nirav Modi and his partners. CBI has been raiding and has collected Rs.5716 crores.
- SHARE MARKET FALL
PNB shares have been falling continuously for four days straight but recovered 0.4% on the fifth day. PSU shares fell over 25% in the last 5 days.
- SECURITY ISSUES
Global credit rating agencies have warned PNB of rating downgrades. The fraud has raised both external and internal risk at PNB regarding the quality of management.
- RUNNING AWAY
Nirav Modi left the country with his family in January after PNB filed FIR against him. It seems like Nirav Modi had it pre-planned as he changed his status to NRI in 2017.
- SALARY ISSUES
Around 2,200 employees have their salaries left to be paid after Nirav Modi bank account being frozen. In a widely circulated post, Nirav Modi has said – “I would request you to permit salaries for FIPL (Firestar International Private Ltd) and FDIPL (Firestar Diamond International Private Ltd) to be paid for the 2,200 employees from the balance lying in the current accounts.”
- NIRAV MODI’S STATEMENT
Regarding the seizing of Rs.5,649 crores, Nirav Modi said that he could have settled all the amounts due to the banks with his assets and his firms but the stage has passed. He also said that his brother and wife were wrongly named in this as they had no clue about this.
