India moves to label wives of Modi and Choksi as fugitive economic offenders

The Enforcement Directorate announced it will file distinct petitions under the 2018 Fugitive Economic Offenders Act to label Ami Nirav Modi and Priti Choksi as fugitive economic offenders. Officials say the two are currently residing in the United States and Belgium and played key roles in laundering funds siphoned from Punjab National Bank in a ₹13,000-crore fraud. The designation would permit the agency to seize their assets anywhere in the world without awaiting a criminal conviction and would bar them from pursuing civil suits in India.

Nirav Modi, already declared a fugitive offender, is detained in a UK prison, while his uncle Mehul Choksi is held in Antwerp; both face extradition requests. Earlier this year, the ED also moved to declare Modi’s brothers and two associates as fugitive offenders, with one associate already deported from the UAE and detained by the CBI.