As per the media reports, The Special PMLA Court declared Nirav Modi a fugitive economic offender on a plea of the Enforcement Directorate.
Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are the main accused in the PNB Scam.
Background of the scam:
As reported by Hindustan Times, Two PNB employees sent unauthorised letters of undertakings (LoUs), essentially bank guarantees, to foreign branches of Indian lenders, on behalf of firms related to Nirav Modi and the Gitanjali Group. The LoUs basically told these other lenders: Lend money to Nirav Modi firms so that they can pay for their imports. If they don’t pay up, we will make good this payment.
In the PNB fraud case, the bank employees had sent these guarantees in the absence of credit limits and collateral security (in Modi’s case). Secondly, they didn’t make an entry in the bank’s core banking system – the software used to support a bank’s most common transactions, which also acts as a record keeper.
[Source: Media Reports]
