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Pandora papers: How Nirav Modi's sister Purvi opened a firm in British Virgin Islands

WION Web Team
New DelhiUpdated: Oct 04, 2021, 01:36 PM IST
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File photo: Nirav Modi Photograph:(Zee News Network)

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India's Enforcement Directorate had charged Nirav Modi's sister Purvi Modi of money laundering in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) case.

According to Pandora papers, Nirav Modi's sister had opened a firm in the British Virgin Islands just a month before her brother fled India in January 2018.

Earlier this year a court in Mumbai had allowed Nirav's sister Purvi Modi to turn approver in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case.

Purvi had reportedly intended the firm to act as a corporate protector of a trust formed through the Trident Trust Company based in Singapore.

Reports claim a firm named Brookton Management Ltd was set up which apparently acted as corporate protector in December 2017 exactly a month before Nirav Modi slipped out of India.

India's Enforcement Directorate had registered a case against Purvi Modi who is a Belgian national. The judge had asked Purvi Modi to present herself in court. Purvi Modi had claimed in court that  she was not a prime accused in the PNB case and vowed to coperate with ED's ongoing investigation.

Nirav Modi's sister in her plea had said she was ready to present "substantial and important evidence" linked to her brother Nirav Modi in the PNB scam. 

Interpol had issued a Red Corner Notice against Purvi Modi earlier after a request was moved by the Enforcement Directorate charging her of money laundering.

Purvi's application for grant of pardon was allowed by the court under Sections 306 and 307 of the CrPC on the condiction that she makes a full discloure of the case while granting her the status of an approver in the case.

Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi had cheated PNB of nearly $2 billion by obtaining fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) through bank officials. 

Nirav Modi was arrested in London in March 2019 as India moved an extradition request to bring him back.

A UK court had allowed extradition of Nirav Modi to India in February. He had lost the first stage of his extradition appeal in June. UK Home Secretary Priti Patel had ordered his extradition to India in April.

(With inputs from Agencies)