'Pardon deal' with Modi govt? PNB scam accused Nirav Modi’s sister to remit Rs 275 crore to govt, says report

Purvi Modi – sister of Nirav Modi who allegedly defrauded Punjab National Bank (PNB) of Rs 13,000 crore – has offered to remit Rs 275 crore to the government as part of a 'pardon deal', The Indian Express has reported.

According to the report, Purvi Modi has given a no-objection letter for remitting about Rs 275 crore lying in the bank account of The Deposit Trust.

The remittance is part of a 'pardon deal', claimed the newspaper, adding that Purvi Modi was allowed the tender of pardon on the condition of making a full and true disclosure to the ED.

Details of The Deposit Trust were recently revealed during the Pandora Papers investigation. Purvi Modi is a settlor of the trust.

Purvi set up Brookton Management Ltd in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) to act as a corporate protector of The Deposit Trust month before Nirav Modi fled India in January 2018.

Interestingly, Purvi declared in the incorporation form for BVI companies that the source of funds to be infused into Brookton were salary and her earnings as the creative director of Firestar.

Firestar is the firm accused of cheating PNB through fraudulent letters of undertakings.

Notably, both Purvi Modi and her husband Maiank Mehta were named as accused in the ED case against Nirav Modi but they allowed Purvi and Mehta to be marked as approvers in the case.

Nirav Modi, who left India in 2018, was arrested in the United Kingdom and is currently lodged at Wandsworth prison in London.

On February 25, a UK court had ordered Modi’s extradition to India, but he moved the UK high court for an oral hearing.

Six months later, in August, the UK high court allowed Modi to appeal against extradition to India on grounds of mental health.

So far, the ED has seized assets worth Rs 2400 crore belonging to Modi in India and abroad.