New Delhi: Fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, who is undergoing extradition proceedings in the UK in the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case, was denied bail by a UK court for a third time on Friday.
The 48-year-old, who has been behind bars at Wandsworth prison in south-west London since his arrest last month, was set to be produced before a judge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court via video link from the jail.
The hearing follows his bail being rejected by Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot on March 29 on the grounds that there was a "substantial risk he would fail to surrender". The next hearing in the case has been scheduled for May 24.
Previously, Modi's legal team, including solicitor Anand Doobay and barrister Clare Montgomery, had offered one million pounds as security alongside an offer to meet stringent electronic tag restrictions on their client's movements, "akin to house arrest".
The diamond dealer's "lack of community ties" in the UK and an attempt to acquire the citizenship of Vanuatu - a remote island country located in the South Pacific Ocean - in late 2017 went against him as the judge said it seemed like he was trying to "move away from India at an important time".
Modi was arrested by uniformed Scotland Yard officers from a Metro Bank branch in central London as he attempted to open a new bank account on March 19. During his first court appearance a day later, it emerged that the diamantaire accused of defrauding PNB via fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) had been in possession of multiple passports since revoked by the Indian authorities.
Comments
0 comment