PNB fraud: SC offers temporary reprieve to three former directors of Nirav Modi-led Firestar International

The Supreme Court, last month, reportedly offered a temporary reprieve to three former independent directors of Nirav Modi-led Firestar International, giving them access to their bank accounts, a media report said. Suresh Senapathy, Gautam Mukkavilli and Sanjay Rishi, the three former independent directors for Firestar were restrained from accessing their bank accounts as part of an ongoing investigation in the Punjab National Bank fraud (PNB). The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) had restricted the three directors from drawing more than Rs 1 lakh a month. “It’s been six months and still the investigation is far from over. So, we don’t know what will be the outcome after more FIRs (first information reports) are filed. For now, the Supreme Court has stayed the NCLAT order,” a lawyer of one of the independent directors was quoted as saying by Mint. [caption id=“attachment_4510369” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A file photo of Nirav Modi. News18[/caption] In July, the NCLAT set aside an NCLT order giving a reprieve to five independent directors of Nirav Modi-led Firestar International and paved the way for the government to attach their assets to recover dues related to the PNB fraud case. The other two directors are Sujal Shah and Gopal Krishnan Nair. Allowing the government’s appeal, the tribunal set aside the NCLT Mumbai order observing that they had exposure with the PNB and are found to be beneficiaries of the fraud, and without waiting for the report of the SFIO it was not open to exonerate some of the respondents. “Though it was brought to the notice of the Tribunal that the respondent Companies, individuals including existing and erstwhile Directors, partners, trustees, beneficiaries and their associates or subsidiaries and firms had exposure with the PNB and are prima facie found to be beneficiaries of the fraud.. without waiting for the report of the SFIO it was not open to the Tribunal to exonerate some of the Respondents from the charges,” the NCLAT said. Billionaire Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple probe agencies after the scam came to light in January following a complaint by the PNB that they had allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of Rs 11,400 crore, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank. The Enforcement Directors (ED) registered the money laundering case against Modi, his firms and others on the basis of a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR. With inputs from PTI