Heena Sharma Blog

  Nirav Modi , once touted as a billionaire designer diamantaire, and now wanted on charges of fraud and money laundering in the $2-billion (Rs 14,000-crore) Punjab National Bank scam case , was on Thursday ordered by a London court to be extradited to India, with the judge ruling that the 49-year-old did have a case to answer before Indian courts. The verdict will, as is the procedure in Britain, be referred to the country’s home secretary, Priti Patel, to authorise deportation at her discretion. But Nirav Modi is permitted to appeal against the ruling to the high court. After nearly two years of proceedings since he was arrested at the British capital’s well-known shopping precinct of Oxford Street, a district judge at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Samuel Goozee, ruled: “I am satisfied that there is evidence upon which Mr Modi could be convicted… A prima facie case is established…He has a case to answer for in India.” The Prime Minister’s Office has acknowledged it wa...

A crucial Income Tax investigation report, prepared 8 months before the PNB scam , on fugitive diamond jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi highlighting bogus purchases, huge over-valuation of stocks, suspicious payments to relatives, dubious loans among other information was not shared with other law enforcement agencies as there was “no protocol”, The Indian Express has reported. The report said the tax department, before February 2018, also did not share its findings through the Regional Economic Intelligence Council (REIC), a mechanism for sharing of information between various law enforcement agencies The tax department report on Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi , which ran into around 10,000 pages, was finalised by the agency on June 8, 2017. However, it was not shared with other agencies like the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) until Februa...