Eight months before the Nirav Modi-PNB scam surfaced, a Income Tax investigation report had red-flagged bogus purchases, over-valuation of stocks, dubious loans and many more. Interestingly, the report was not shared with any other agency.
The 10,000-pages report on the fugitive diamond jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi was finalised on June 8, 2017. The report was not shared with other agencies like the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) until February 2018, when the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam became public
According to the report in the Indian Express, before Feburary 2018, the tax department also didn’t share its report through the Regional Economic Intelligence Council (REIC), a mechanism for sharing of information between various law enforcement agencies, sources said.
Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi are accused of routing ₹13,500 crore worth of fraudulent transactions through PNB. Both left the country in the first week of January 2018, weeks before the scam broke.
On January 14, 2017, the IT department, searched Modi’s firms and surveyed companies owned by his uncle Mehul Choksi. The search covered at least 45 residential and commercial premises across India.
The tax investigation report on Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi was not shared with other agencies because there was no protocol for sharing such reports with other agencies at that time, said a senior tax official,
Published: 03 Dec 2018, 9:28 AM IST
According to report in the Indian Express, official said, “After the Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi scam, since July-August 2018, the tax department has been asked to share all investigation appraisal reports with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which in turn shares these with other agencies for investigation and appropriate action. Since July-August, we are sharing information and investigation reports on real time basis.”
Interestingly, the findings of the tax probe have now been mentioned by the CBI and ED in their chargesheets filed against Modi and Choksi between May and July 2018.
Published: 03 Dec 2018, 9:28 AM IST
Here are the eight key findings of the June 2017 report of the IT department:
Published: 03 Dec 2018, 9:28 AM IST
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Published: 03 Dec 2018, 9:28 AM IST