CBI Set To Probe If Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Top Brass Helped Hide Key Evidence Related To PNB-Nirav Modi Fraud

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has told a special CBI court hearing the Punjab National Bank-Nirav Modi fraud case that further investigation needs to be conducted to find out if Cyril Shroff and Shaneen Parikh, who are senior partner and partner at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, had helped Nirav Modi hide key evidence related to the case.

Earlier, the CBI had seized documents related to the estimated Rs 13,570-crore PNB fraud from the Lower Parel (Mumbai) office of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) in February 2018, and the CBI is presently probing if the law firm had helped Nirav Modi hide key evidence.

The CBI charge sheet stated that it had seized “a large number of incriminating documents which ran into more than 24,500 pages” while it searched the office premises of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas on February 20 and February 21, 2018.

According to the CBI charge sheet, the seized documents by the CBI “include original applications submitted to PNB’s Brady House branch on behalf of the three accused firms for issuance of LoUs during the period of 2016 to 2017, invoices, airway bills, bills of entry, copies of swift messages pertaining to the LoUs issued by PNB, export declaration forms, foreign bill transaction advices and counter indemnity forms”. Blank letterheads of companies linked to Nirav Modi were also seized, the CBI charge sheet stated.

According to the CBI charge sheet, one of the accused, Vipul Ambani had allegedly met Shroff and Parikh before the seized documents were brought and concealed in CAM’s office.

Allegedly, Nirav Modi got the incriminating documents concealed in the office premises of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas “in connivance with accused Vipul Ambani, Miten Pandya, Nehal Modi and other accused persons” after CBI registered a case of criminal conspiracy “in order to escape the due process of law and with intent to cause the disappearance of vital documents or evidence, according to the CBI charge sheet.

As per the CBI charge sheet, a few days after the CBI search at the office premises of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, its employees had bought a tempo to the CBI office which contained several cartons of documents connected with the PNB fraud case which were reportedly kept by the accused persons in the office premises of the law firm.

Also, Nirav Modi allegedly transferred Rs 2.12 crore to the law firm’s accounts in February 2018, as per the CBI charge sheet.

The CBI charge sheet has claimed that between 2011 and 2017, 1,214 letters of undertaking (LoUs) to the tune of Rs 23,780 crore were fraudulently issued by the accused bankers on behalf of Diamonds R US, Solar Export and Stellar Diamond. Out of these, 150 LoUs equivalent to Rs 6,498.20 crore, or about USD 1 billion, remained outstanding, according to the CBI charge sheet.