NEW DELHI, Mar 2: State Bank of India (SBI) has frozen accounts of three group companies of fugitive Nirav Modi and shared the information related to those accounts with investigative agencies, bank officials said.
“We have proactively conducted internal scrutiny and came across deposit accounts of three Nirav Modi group companies in our overseas branches,” the officials said.
These accounts were with the three overseas SBI branches at Dubai, Bahrain and Antwerp, officials said.
The bank found out these accounts after internal scrutiny, the officials said, adding these accounts are not directly related to the PNB fraud of nearly Rs 12,600 crore.
However, these could help in investigation so the bank shared the details with the CBI, the ED, the income tax department and other relevant agencies.
State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender that has exposure of USD 212 million to Nirav Modi fraud, expects Punjab National Bank (PNB) to clear the bank’s dues in the fraud case.
Billionaire jewellery designer Nirav Modi is at the centre PNB fraud.
“I am very much confident that things will get sorted out between PNB and other banks,” Kumar said in an interview to CNBC TV18. “As far as our exposure is concerned on PNB, that number is very much confirmed, calculated and advised to PNB,” SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar had said.
He had said the exposure of SBI to Gitanjali Gems—one of the companies involved in the PNB fraud—has also been crystallised and there was no issue on that.
“So our numbers, our claim is clear because there are some secondary market purchases, so double counting has to be avoided,” the SBI chairman had said. (PTI)
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