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A 'fancy vivid yellow orange cushion cut' diamond fueled PNB fraud: Report

bloomberg
August 30, 2018

New Delhi, Aug 30: The price of a large yellow diamond alternately shrank and spiked by about a million dollars as it moved across the globe.

The three-carat gem was shipped at least four times between shadowy companies allegedly controlled by fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi over about five weeks in 2011, according to a report by a US bankruptcy examiner. The practice of round-tripping--trading a good repeatedly to give the appearance of distinct transactions--was central to the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam - the largest bank fraud in Indian history, according to the report filed August 25.

The rapid-fire sales were described as part of a plan in which Modi and associates “fraudulently borrowed approximately $4 billion over a period of years by manufacturing sham transactions purportedly to ‘import’ diamonds and other gems into India using a web of more than 20 secretly controlled shell entities,” wrote John J Carney, the examiner in the bankruptcy case of three US jewelry companies indirectly owned by Modi.

The firms sought protection from creditors in February in New York as the celebrity jeweler’s empire unraveled. Authorities brought criminal charges against against him and alleged accomplices, and Modi became an international fugitive. He’s denied doing anything wrong.

The “fancy vivid yellow orange cushion cut” diamond was first sold by Firestar Diamond Inc., a US company indirectly owned by Modi, and shipped to Fancy Creations Company Ltd., a foreign shell company in Hong Kong also allegedly controlled by Modi, in August 2011, the report says. The price was almost $1.1 million.

The colorful stone was then shipped out two weeks later by Solar Export, a partnership formed by the Nirav Modi family trust, back to Firestar Diamond in the US, for closer to what it was really worth: $183,000, the examiner wrote.

Less than a week later, Firestar, which has offices on Fifth Avenue in New York City, shipped the diamond back to Fancy Creations in Hong Kong, this time for $1.16 million, the report asserts.

And two weeks after that, A Jaffe, the New York City-based diamond company owned by Modi, sold the diamond to World Diamond Distribution, which the report describes as a Modi shell company in the United Arab Emirates, this time for more than $1.2 million.

Long Journey

The practice of round-tripping, which ultimately totaled $213.8 million between 2011 and 2017, the alleged duration of the fraud, generated shipping invoices that were given to the state-owned PNB to obtain short-term loans using letters of undertaking, according to Carney.

The proceeds were then used to fund Modi’s lifestyle and business entities as well as using the funds from new loans to repay the old ones as they came due, the report states, citing a real-estate trust controlled by Modi that paid $25 million in cash for a luxury apartment in the Ritz Carlton on Central Park South in 2017.

Some of the shipments were so large and high-priced “that the packing slips alone should have raised suspicion,” wrote Carney, a former investigator and prosecutor for the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice.

Fedex Gems

In a break with industry practices, the Modi-owned US companies exported diamonds via FedEx instead of with a bonded courier -- including a 17-carat stone sold for $1.7 million and sent from New York City to Hong Kong -- even though FedEx insures packages only up to $150,000, the report states.

“There is no legitimate business reason to ship diamonds worth millions of dollars without obtaining appropriate insurance,” Carney wrote, citing a gem expert retained by the bankruptcy trustee. The report found “substantial evidence” to back up Indian criminal and civil authorities who say Modi’s US companies and senior officials were involved in transactions related to alleged bank fraud and money laundering.

Modi has previously denied wrongdoing, and a lawyer representing him declined to comment Monday on the examiner’s report. The US companies, Firestar Diamond, A. Jaffe and Fantasy Inc., which all operate out of the same New York offices, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February. (And the three companies still owe Federal Express about $86,000 in unpaid bills, according to a court filing in their bankruptcy case.)

Gem Cutters

Modi, 47, comes from a family of specialist gem cutters, and he has draped his jewels on Hollywood and Bollywood stars, including Kate Winslet, Naomi Watts and Priyanka Chopra. He bought A. Jaffe, an iconic engagement ring company founded in Manhattan in 1892, to add to his collection of brands in 2007 and opened eponymous boutiques in New York City, Macau, Singapore, Beijing and London. Now, he is reportedly in the U.K. and the Indian government has asked authorities there for his extradition.

The charges against Modi have sent shockwaves through Indian banking and politics as well as the international jewelry industry. The alleged crime undermined the prime minister’s anti-graft image and Punjab National Bank posted India’s biggest-ever quarterly bank loss this year after it took a $2 billion hit.

Punjab National Bank

The US examiner’s report “strengthens PNB’s position as a victim of a complex, multi-year fraud,” and the lender is expected to argue for a share of the sale proceeds once Firestar’s assets are sold and secured creditors are satisfied, said Seth R. Freeman, San Francisco-based senior managing director at financial services advisory firm GlassRatner.

A representative for Macy’s, which had previously bought jewelry from Firestar Diamond Inc., said in an email Monday, “We canceled all purchase activity with the company as soon as we became aware of the situation earlier this year.” Costco Wholesale Corp. and Zale Corp. declined to comment and J.C. Penney’s didn’t answer a message.

Other Modi associates were involved, according to Carney’s report, including Mihir Bhansali, chief executive at two of the Modi-owned US companies. Bhansali went to the office of Firestar Diamond in Dubai shortly after those companies filed for bankruptcy in February, according to an account given by the general manager of the Dubai office to Indian authorities and described in Carney’s report.

Speaking before employees in Dubai, Bhansali folded his hands and bowed, then asked them not to return to India or mention his name to any government authorities, according to the report. Bhansali then took hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and 50 kilograms of gold and left town, the report asserts.

Bhansali’s lawyer, Thomas McCormack, declined to comment, but said in a letter to the examiner that his client denied any wrongdoing.

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News Network
March 11,2020

Jaipur, Mar 11: A 85-year-old man in Jaipur, who had returned from Dubai on February 28, has tested positive for coronavirus, a state government official said on Wednesday.

He was found presumptive positive in the first test on Tuesday and hence, a second test was conducted with fresh samples, the reports of which arrived late Tuesday night, Additional Chief Secretary, Medical and Health, Rohit Kumar Singh, said.

“The man who travelled to Dubai has been tested positive for coronavirus. It has been confirmed now,” Singh said.

“We have also got the manifest of the Spicejet flight he took from Dubai to Jaipur and are doing due diligence on that,” the official said, adding that intense contact tracing was underway.

The man has been kept in isolation at the SMS Hospital here.

“The man came to the hospital on Monday with symptoms of the virus. After the first test, his wife and son too have been kept in isolation at the hospital. The two, however, do not have coronavirus affliction symptoms,” Singh said.

A total of 235 people who came in contact with the octogenarian and his family have already been traced and are being monitored, he said.

Other contacts are also being traced, Singh added.

An Italian couple, who tested positive for COVID-19 last week, are also admitted in the hospital but their condition is improving, he said.

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News Network
January 18,2020

New Delhi, Jan 18: Lieutenant Governor (LG) Anil Baijal has granted the power of detaining authority to the Delhi Police Commissioner under the National Security Act (NSA), according to a notification. The NSA allows preventive detention of an individual for months if the authorities feel that the individual is a threat to the national security, and law and order, sources said.

In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (3) of section 3, read with clause (c) of Section 2 of the National Security Act, 1980, the Lt Governor is pleased to direct that during the period January 19 to April 18, the Delhi Police Commissioner may also exercise the powers of detaining authority under sub-section (2) of the section 3 of the aforesaid Act, the notification stated.

The notification has been issued on January 10 following the approval of the LG.

It comes at a time when the national capital has been witnessing a number of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

However, the Delhi Police said it is a routine order that has been issued in every quarter and has nothing to do with the current situation.

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News Network
January 31,2020

New Delhi, Jan 31: Chief Economic Adviser K V Subramanian on Friday said India's GDP is expected to grow at 6-6.5 per cent next fiscal as the economic slowdown has bottomed out.

As per the first advance estimates released by the National Statistical Organisation (NSO), the country's economic growth is likely to hit an 11-year low of 5 per cent in the current fiscal ending March 2020.

The Economic Survey 2019-20, prepared by a team lead by Subramanian, has projected the GDP to expand in the range of 6-6.5 per cent during 2020-21.

The Indian economy has hit the bottom and it will see an uptick from here, he said in a media briefing post the Economic Survey.

Amidst a weak environment for global manufacturing, trade and demand, the Indian economy slowed down with GDP growth moderating to 4.8 per cent in the first half of 2019-20, lower than 6.2 per cent in H2 of 2018-19.

Based on NSO's first advance estimates of GDP growth for 2019-20 at 5 per cent, an uptick in GDP growth is expected in the second half of the fiscal, it said.

According to it, the uptick in second half of 2019-20 would be mainly due to ten positive factors like picking up of Nifty India Consumption Index for the first time this year, an upbeat secondary market, higher FDI flows, build-up of demand pressure, positive outlook for rural consumption, rebound of industrial activity, steady improvement in manufacturing, growth in merchandise exports, higher build-up of foreign exchange reserves and positive growth rate of GST revenue collection.

The survey also emphasised that merger of public sector banks may increase the financial strength of the merged entities, lower the risk aversion and result in lowering of lending rates.

Further, as the implementation of GST further settles down, the increased unification of the domestic market may reduce business costs and facilitate fresh investment.

Reforms in land and labour market may further reduce business costs, said the survey, presented a day before Sitharaman's Union Budget 2020-21.

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