Interpol issues Red Corner Notice against Nirav Modi

New Delhi: A Red Corner Notice has been issued against billionaire diamond merchant Nirav Modi who is accused in the PNB money laundering scam.

Interpol, accepting a request from Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI), issued the Red Corner Notice. The Red Corner Notice will reportedly allow enforcement agencies of the member countries of Interpol to try to find and make arrests in their respective countries.

The latest development may now restrict Nirav Modi's movements. Wanted by Indian investigative agencies on charges of fraud to the tune of US 2 billion, the 47-year-old was reportedly living in London's Mayfair while being hunted the world over. UK's The Sunday Times reported that he was living in Old Bond Street above his jewellery boutique. It is also reported that he was traveled in and out of UK four times since his passport was cancelled back in India.

Nirav Modi along with his wife Ami, a US citizen, brother Nishal a Belgian, and uncle Choksi, Gitanjali groups promoter, had fled the country before the bank approached the CBI with a complaint against his companies for allegedly cheating through fraudulent issuance of Letters of Undertakings (LoUs) and Foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs).

The CBI, in its charge sheet filed in May, alleged that Nirav Modi, through his companies, siphoned off funds to the tune of Rs 6,498.20 crore using fraudulent LoUs issued from PNBs Brady House branch in Mumbai. Choksi swindled Rs 7080.86 crore, making it possibly the biggest banking scam in the country, it alleged.

The PNB had approached the CBI with a complaint on the basis of which the agency had registered an FIR against Nirav Modi.

It is alleged that Nirav Modi and Choksi through their companies availed credit from overseas branches of Indian banks using the fraudulent guarantees of the PNB given through LoUs and letters of credit which were not repaid bringing the liability on the state-run bank.

An LoU is a guarantee given by an issuing bank to Indian banks having branches abroad to grant short-term credit to the applicant.

(With agency inputs)