News & Media

SC relief for Nirav Modi firm’s former directors

Sep 6, 2018
  • Published by : Live Mint
  • Three former independent directors of one of fugitive jeweller Nirav Modi’s firms won a temporary reprieve from the Supreme Court, after battling government agencies in courts over access to their bank accounts since India’s biggest bank fraud, involving Modi, unravelled in February.

    The three—Sanjay Rishi, president of American Express for South Asia; Gautham Mukkavilli, a former PepsiCo India president; and Suresh Senapaty, a former chief financial officer of Wipro—were restrained from freely accessing their bank accounts as part of an ongoing investigation by the ministry of corporate affairs.

    Unlike Modi, who has fled the country—hopping across three continents, from the US to Macau, and now having taken refuge in the UK—the three former directors had to deal with severe restrictions on their assets, pending an investigation into the $4 billion Punjab National Bank scam.

    Last month, the Supreme Court offered a temporary reprieve to the three former independent directors of Firestar International Ltd, a privately-held firm controlled by Modi, as the apex court put a stay on an earlier order of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) that had restricted the three executives from drawing more than 1 lakh a month.

    However, the agony for the three individuals is still far from over as the investigation continues.