Before PNB scam broke, Nirav Modi tried for citizenship of Vanuatu — was rejected

The Indian Express
September 13, 2018
Khushboo Narayan
Almost three months before the Rs 13,600-crore banking fraud in the state-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) became public, diamond jeweller Nirav Modi tried to secure a citizenship of Vanuatu, an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean, sources confirmed to The Indian Express.
For citizenship of Vanuatu, Modi had, in November 2017, transferred $195,000 from his personal account to one of the 18 authorised agents of the Vanuatu government who facilitate Citizenship by Investment program of the country.
Subsequently, the Vanuatu government ran an intelligence check on Modi and unearthed “adverse findings” against him. This prompted the Vanuatu government to reject Modi’s request for citizenship, these sources said. Vanuatu is an island nation in the South Pacific off northern Australia.
“The purpose of the $195,000 was to pay the application fee for honorary Vanuatu citizenship. However, a Government Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) probity check found adverse findings against Mr Modi. Therefore his application was not considered by the Government,” Justin Ngwele, managing partner of Vanuatu-based law firm Indigene Lawyers which processed Modi’s application, told The Indian Express in response to questions on email.
Vanuatu offers second or dual citizenship and under its honorary citizenship program, foreigners can become citizens through investment. The fee for such citizenship for one person is $160,000 with an additional fee of $5,000 for FIU due diligence.
Nirav Modi and his maternal uncle Mehul Choksi are being investigated by Indian investigating agencies after PNB complained against their companies, saying that the bank had been cheated of Rs 13,600 crore through fraudulent issue of letters LoUs and foreign letters of credit (FLCs). PNB in its January 29 complaint to CBI said that the bank detected the fraud only in third week of January.
Both Modi and Choksi left India in the first week of January.While Nirav Modi is in the UK and has applied for asylum in June, Choksi has become a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda and is learnt to be residing there. “We no longer have any dealings with Mr Modi. Mr Modi or his family members don’t have Vanuatu citizenship,” said Ngwele. Ngwele said he is not aware of the nature of the “adverse findings” obtained by the Vanuatu government against Modi through the FIU probity check of his country. “We remitted his (Modi’s) money back to him,” said Ngwele.
According to the website of India’s Ministry of External Affairs, data on population of overseas Indians, there are 810 non-resident Indians and persons of Indian origin in Vanuatu as of December 2017. Modi has been accused of diverting over Rs 4,000 crore of the Rs 6,519 crore outstanding fraudulent LoUs issued by PNB to his firms and family overseas.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), is now planning to attach international assets and bank accounts of Nirav Modi and a few of his relatives in the US, UK, Switzerland, Hongkong and Singapore said sources. The total value of the international attachments could be about Rs 1000 crore. So far, In India the ED has attached assets worth Rs 1500 crore of Modi and his firms. The agency has also moved court for confiscation of the attached assets of Modi under the newly introduced Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance.
Last month, the Interpol asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), to submit an extradition request and a provisional arrest warrant issued from an Indian court against Modi. The Interpol’s communication to the CBI, the nodal agency for the Interpol in India, was in response to the Red Corner Notice (RCN) issued by the global agency against Modi in July. 


 Reference:-  https://indianexpress.com/article/business/before-pnb-scam-broke-nirav-modi-tried-for-citizenship-of-vanuatu-was-rejected-5353494/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

India Joins Russia in Voting Against West-Backed Move to Expand Powers of OPCW

The Wire: June 28, 2018 New Delhi: India voted against a UK-backed move that will allow the global chemical weapons watchdog to apportion blame for illegal attacks, criticising the decision to grant “unchecked powers” to the head of the group which could be used for “partisan” purposes. On Wednesday, more than two-thirds of the member states of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) voted to authorise the international body to identify the perpetrators and sponsors of a chemical weapons attack. It also specifically called on the OPCW’s technical secretariat to begin work on identifying the perpetrators behind the use of chemical weapons in Syria. The draft decision, sponsored by 30 countries, was adopted at the fourth special session of the conference of the states parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention at the Hague, with 82 in favour and 24 negative votes. While Europe, the United States and their allies voted ‘yes’, there was strong oppo...
Read more

As financial insecurity rises in urban India, so does investment in insurance

Image
Scroll.in March 13, 2020 Urban Indians are becoming less confident about their financial security. Up to 58% of them fret over financial independence post retirement, which is a 4% increase from last year. An equal share of urban Indians worry about meeting their daily medical expenses and sustaining their current lifestyle once they stop working. The findings are part of a survey published by Delhi-based Max Life Insurance in association with London-based consultancy Kantar. The firms surveyed 7,014 respondents in 25 cities, including six metros, nine tier-1 cities, and 10 tier-2 cities, between December 2019 and January 2020. Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz The trends Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz A significant share of urban Indians also say their families will have no financial support in the event of the breadwinner’s death. In such a scenario, around 57% believe the family sav...
Read more

ED tracks Swiss Bank A/Cs of Agusta scamster

The Poineer February 10,2019 Rakesh K Singh The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has tracked a dozen Swiss bank accounts in the name of Rajiv Saxena, who is key accused in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam. The ED has also found out accounts held by  his family members and associates where the kickbacks in the now scrapped deal were allegedly parked. Two bank accounts are in the name of Rajiv Saxena’s  associates Pankaj Jain and Sumita Jain who are also the authorised signatories. The  third is in the name of another associate Ajit Singh Bubber, but Rajiv and his family members are authorised signatories. The remaining nine accounts are largely owned and operated by Rajiv, his family members and associates. Rajiv Saxena was deported by the UAE authorities on January 30 and the ED formally arrested him the next day and a court later granted his remand to the agency. He is currently undergoing custodial interrogation by the ED. The agency had in 2017...
Read more