New Delhi, May 16: In a blow to Nirav Modi, the UK High Court has refused the fourth bail application of the alleged mastermind of $1 billion fraud against Punjab National Bank, due to the scale of the offence , the Enforcement Directorate said on Friday.
The setback to the fugitive diamantaire was delivered on Thursday after thorough deliberation of arguments of defence with counter arguments of prosecution (the Indian government), and written submissions made by the ED, highlighting the money laundering aspects by using shell companies to launder the proceeds to even outside jurisdictions, including the UK.
The ED said the HC favoured rejecting his fourth bail application, filed on the grounds of poor health, in view of the sheer quantum of fraud, part of the proceeds of which have already been attached/seized by ED and restituted to the victim banks.
Nirav Modi was arrested by Scotland Yard on March 19, 2019, on the basis of an arrest request made to the UK government based on non-bailable warrants issued by an Indian court. He had earlier made several attempts to obtain bail – on six occasions from the Westminster Magistrate Court and three times from UK High Court.
However, bail was denied on each such occasion from the respective UK courts. Nirav Modi filed his fourth bail application before the UK High Court King’s Bench Division on March 21, 2025, challenging the order of the UK District Judge dated May 7, 2024. As part of the proceedings in the filed application, the bail application was comprehensively heard, wherein the Indian government opposed the granting of bail to Nirav Modi, leading to favourable outcome for it.
The money laundering case against Nirav Modi and his associates was recorded by the ED in Mumbai on February 14, 2018, based on an FIR registered by the CBI in Mumbai, for fraud of Rs 6,498.20 crore ($1.015 billion). As part of the investigation under the PMLA, the ED has been able to trace assets/properties worth Rs 2,626.62 crore in India and abroad and, thus, attached these identified assets.
IANS