Nirav Modi says PNB closed all options to recover dues by going public - report

Gitanjali Gems

20/02/2018 04:27

Feb 20 (Reuters) - Billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi said that 
Punjab National Bank  PNBK.NS  closed all his options to pay 
back the dues by going public, according to a report in business 
daily Economic Times citing news agency PTI. 
    Nirav Modi reportedly wrote in a letter that his companies 
owe the bank under 50 billion rupees ($775.25 million) much 
lower than the amount pegged by the bank. http://bit.ly/2ETIABK 
    "The erroneously cited liability resulted in a media frenzy 
which led to immediate search and seizure of operations, and 
which in turn resulted in Firestar International and Firestar 
Diamond International effectively ceasing to be going-concerns. 
This thereby jeopardised our ability to discharge the dues of 
the group to the banks," Modi wrote, in a letter reportedly 
addressed to PNB management. 
    Modi and his representatives were not immediately reachable 
for comment. Last week PNB, India's No. 2 state-run lender said 
it detected fraudulent transactions worth $1.77 billion.  
    The fraud involved firms controlled by Modi and his 
relatives and sparked raids across Mumbai and New Delhi, 
targeting offices and homes linked to Modi.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1Q45DF 
    Shares in PNB fell for fifth straight day on Tuesday. The 
stock, which has shed more than a quarter of its market 
capitalization since disclosing the fraud, was down 3.5 percent 
in early trading.  
 
 (Reporting by Krishna V Kurup in Bengaluru; Editing by Euan 
Rocha) 
 ((Krishna.VKurup@thomsonreuters.com; +91 80 6749 1310; Reuters 
Messaging: Krishna.VKurup.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net;)) 
 
Keywords: PUNJAB NATL BANK FRAUD/