PNB scam: PMLA court grants bail to Nirav Modi’s close aide

Mumbai: A special PMLA court here on Tuesday granted bail to Subash Parab, a close aide of fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, in the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case.

Parab was a deputy general manager (finance) at Firestar Diamond, a firm owned by Modi, and was deported to India from Cairo in Egypt in April 2022.

Special PMLA judge S M Menjonge allowed the Parab’s bail plea, citing that it appeared from the bail application that the accused was not beneficiary of the proceeds of crime.

Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are accused of duping PNB, a public sector bank, of Rs 13,000 crore using letters of undertaking (LoUs) and foreign letters of credit (FLCs) by bribing its officials at the Brady House branch in Mumbai.

Parab is understood to be a key witness to the letters of undertaking submitted to the bank to siphon off more than Rs 7,000 crore.

India had issued an Interpol Red Notice against Parab to track him down and bring him back.

In February, he was granted bail in a related case being probed by the CBI.

A LoU is a guarantee given by a bank to Indian banks having branches abroad for the grant of short-term credit to an applicant. In case of default, the bank issuing the LoU has to pay the liability.

The companies of Modi and Choksi took loans from banks abroad using the PNB’s LoUs, but did not repay them, thus transferring the liability to the bank.