Lawyer for beleaguered billionaire businessman Nirav Modi has denied charges framed against him in the PNB scam, and said the allegations made by the state-run bank, and the CBI are not true.
Vijay Agarwal, who is famously known to have represented a number of accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case, will defend Modi in the alleged PNB scam.
'Everything is documented' and allegations made by the CBI 'completely wrong', Agarwal told news agency Reuters. He alleged that Punjab National Bank 'cooked up' allegations against Modi to avoid its liability to other banks.
According to the report, Nirav Modi and his lawyer will come up with a legal strategy after the chargesheet is filed.
Advertisement
Speaking to ANI, Vijay Aggarwal also said that probe agencies will not be able to prove charges against Nirav Modi in the court of law.
"Like 2G Scam and Bofors matter this case will also collapse. Agencies are making noises in the media but they will not be able to prove the charges in a court of law. I am sure Nirav Modi will not be found guilty," the lawyer said.
His comments comes a day after Modi wrote a letter to the Punjab National Bank, saying its overzealousness shut the doors on his ability to clear the dues.
The PNB, the second largest state-run bank, had, on February 14, informed the exchanges about detecting USD 1.77 billion fraud at its Brady House branch in Mumbai, and named the firms led by Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi's Gitanjali Group, and some other diamond and jewellery merchants as suspects.
Advertisement
The CBI and Enforcement Directorate registered cases on the complaint by the bank, and launched nationwide searches on dozens of offices and residences of the alleged fraudsters
In a letter written to the Punjab National Bank on February 15/16, Modi said the dues were much less than what the bank has claimed, and that his relatives booked in the cases filed by the central agencies had nothing to do with the operations of the firms under their scanner.
"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, who left the country along with his family in the first week of January, before the alleged scam became public, wrote in the letter.
"In the anxiety to recover your dues immediately, despite my offer (on February 13, a day before the public announcement, and on 15) your actions have destroyed my brand and the business and have now restricted your ability to recover all the dues leaving a trail of unpaid debts,"he said.
(Agency inputs)
