Pune/Mumbai: A major relief comes for public sector Punjab National Bank (PNB), as Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT), Pune, on Saturday, ordered controversial diamond trader, Nirav Modi, 48 to return around Rs 7,200 crore with interest to PNB and a consortium of other banks.
DRT’s final order on this count comes on two separate pleas filed by PNB and other banks for the recovery of the amount from Modi. Of the total recoverable amount of Rs 7,200 crore, PNB’s share stands at around Rs 7,000 crore, while that of other consortium of banks is around Rs 200 crore.
While PNB was the first bank to make an appeal of recovery in July 2018, other banks followed the public sector banking major soon with a similar appeal. The order was passed in Pune by the DRT Tribunal presiding officer Deepak Thakker, who holds additional charge of Mumbai, on Saturday.
“Defendant and his partners are ordered and directed to pay to applicant (PNB) either jointly or severally the aggregate sum of Rs 7029,06,87,950.65 with interest of 14.30 per cent per annum from June 30, 2018,” stated the DRT order.
Although DRT issued the recovery certificates, which authorized PNB and other consortium of banks to attach properties of the beleaguered diamond merchant now, legal brains feel that the process will not be that easy for the banks.
The main problem, said a legal expert, is that Enforcement Directorate (ED), the investigation arm of the Union finance ministry, has attached most of the properties of Modi
“In such a situation, the only option that is left for the recovery officers of PNB and other banks is to approach the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Court and proceed from there accordingly,” said a legal expert.
Modi is wanted in India as the main accused in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case amounting up to $ 2 billion. He was arrested by uniformed Scotland Yard officers in central London on March 19. He faces extradition to India as the “principal beneficiary” of the fraudulent issuance of letters of undertaking (LoUs) as part of a conspiracy to defraud PNB and then laundering the proceeds of crime.