Nirav Modi, who has been facing fraud and money laundering charges in India, has been in prison in London for nearly six years after losing his extradition battle.
In a major setback for fugitive Indian diamond merchant and businessman Nirav Deepak Modi, his latest bail petition was rejected by London High Court, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said on Thursday.
Modi, who has been facing fraud and money laundering charges in India, has been in prison in London for nearly six years after losing his extradition battle.
The probe agency said that the bail petition has been rejected by the High Court of Justice, King’s Bench Division, London. It said that the bail arguments were strongly opposed by the Crown Prosecution Service with the help of a CBI team which had travelled to London.
“Fresh bail petition filed by Nirav Deepak Modi was rejected Thursday by the High Court of Justice, King’s Bench Division, London. The bail arguments were strongly opposed by the Crown Prosecution Service advocate, who was ably assisted by a strong CBI team consisting of investigating and law officers who travelled to London for this purpose,” the probe agency said in a statement.
Nirav Modi — one of India’s most wanted in connection with the Rs. 6498.20 crore Punjab National Bank loan fraud case — has been in a jail in UK since March 2019. This was his 10th bail petition.
“This was his 10th bail petition since his detention in the UK, which was successfully defended by the CBI through the Crown Prosecution Service, London,” the probe agency said.
The UK High Court has already approved his extradition to India in the favour of the Indian government so he can face the law.
Nirav Modi’s uncle Mehul Choksi, a co-accused in the PNB fraud case, was last month arrested by the authorities in Belgium where he had gone for treatment.
Charges Against Nirav Modi
Nirav Modi had fled India in January 2018, weeks before the PNB scam surfaced and has been in a UK jail since March 2019.
The 55-year-old diamond merchant along with his uncle has been accused of siphoning off over Rs 13,000 crore from the PNB using fraudulent letters of undertaking and foreign letters of credit.
Officials at PNB’s Brady House branch in Mumbai issued letters of undertaking (LoUs) and foreign letters of credit (FLCs) to their firms without any sanctioned limit or cash margin and without making entries in the bank’s central system to evade any scrutiny in case of a default.
Based on the LoUs issued by the PNB, money was lent by the SBI, Mauritius; Allahabad Bank, Hong Kong; Axis Bank, Hong Kong; Bank of India, Antwerp; Canara Bank, Mamana; and SBI, Frankfurt.
Since the accused companies did not repay the amount availed against the said fraudulent LoUs and FLCs, PNB made the payments, including the overdue interest, to the overseas banks, which advanced buyer’s credit and discounted the bills against the fraudulent LoUs and FLCs issued by the PNB, the CBI alleged.
Nirav Modi was declared a fugitive economic offender by a Mumbai court in 2020 and the court had ordered confiscation of his assets.
