The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has addressed the matter of absconding scam-accused billionaire Nirav Modi’s current location, saying it has had an exchange of communication with him.
Speaking at a news briefing, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that the ministry had done its job, on the advice of agencies, by suspending Nirav Modi’s passport and that he was told to reply within a stipulated time (one week at the time it was suspended, meaning he must reply by Friday, Feb 23). It had not tracked his precise location down, he said, adding-
“The location part is something where we don’t directly come into the picture; we come in at a later stage when there is some progress that happens in the matter and we are advised so by the agencies.”
The MEA spokesperson did, however, say that the ministry had had an exchange with Nirav Modi over the matter of the latter’s passport being suspended.
“I can share with you that he has acknowledged in the sense that there was some confusion on the address where it was to be sent. We were asked to send it to a particular email id. That we have done. We have sent this to an email id that was sent to us by Mr Modi himself.”
Nirav Modi and his uncle and Gitanjali Gems CMD Mehul Choksi have had their passports suspended following the massive Rs. 11,400 crore PNB bank fraud coming to light. However, Republic TV’s Alpha Files investigation has shown that the scam may be far larger than just the Letters of Undertaking (LoU) aspect, perhaps in excess of Rs. 25,000 crore. Modi’s current location is unknown, though there are hints that he may be in Dubai or Hong Kong.