PNB scam: PMLA court grants bail to Nirav Modi’s close aide

MUMBAI: A special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court in the city on Tuesday granted bail to Subhash Parab, a close aide of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, observing that the main beneficiary of the proceeds of crime (Modi) is still beyond the reach of the law enforcement agencies even after five years of registration of the case.

“As per the record, Parab was not the beneficiary of the proceeds of the crime. The main beneficiary of the proceeds of crime is still beyond the reach of the police,” the special court said while granting bail to the 51-year-old.

The court also took into consideration that the trial was not likely to start soon. “There is no likelihood that trial in the case would commence soon,” the court said, adding, “The main accused Nirav Modi has left India and five years have lapsed since the date of registration of the offence.”

The court noted that Parab went to the public sector bank and on his instructions the money was transferred to Modi’s companies located in Hong Kong and in the Gulf. However, the court said he was just an employee at Modi’s company.

CBI has on January 31, 2018, registered a case against Nirav Modi, his Firestar Group, his brother Nishal and several others, including some PNB officers for allegedly defrauding the public sector bank of crores of rupees.

The investigation by the CBI has revealed that between 2011 and 2017, in all 1,214 Letters of Undertakings (LoUs) totalling ₹23,780 crore were fraudulently issued by PNB to various overseas banks to finance imports by Modi’s firms -- Diamonds R US, Stellar Diamonds and Solar Exports. Of the LoUs, 150 -- totalling ₹6,498.20 crore remained unpaid when the scam came to light in January 2018 and resulted in causing a loss of ₹6,805.24 crore to PNB.

The probe also revealed that Modi’s maternal uncle Mehul Choksi had duped PNB to the tune of ₹7,080 crore, using the same modus operandi -- by fraudulently obtaining LoUs and foreign letters of credit (FLCs) from PNB in favour of his Gitanjali Group firms, when PNB had not sanctioned any credit facility to either of Modi’s firms or that of Choksi.

Parab was the deputy general manager of M/s Firestar International Pvt Ltd and headed the finance department of the company after Manish Bosamia left the company in 2015. He was deported from Cairo, Egypt in April last year.

The agency claimed that all the documents related to outstanding LOUs had been prepared on his instructions and the decision to utilisation the funds was taken by the 51-year-old deputy general manager as per Modi’s instructions. The CBI had claimed that Parab was looking after banking-related activities of the three Firestar firms - M/s Diamonds R US, M/s Stellar Diamond and M/s Solar Exports.