NEW DELHI: Fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi who is an accused in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case has lost the appeal as UK High Court orders extradition to India to face fraud and money laundering charges.
Nirav is the subject of two sets of criminal proceedings, with the CBI case relating to a large-scale fraud upon PNB through the fraudulent obtaining of letters of undertaking (LoUs) or loan agreements, and the ED case relating to the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud. He also faces two additional charges of “causing the disappearance of evidence” and intimidating witnesses or “criminal intimidation to cause death”, which were added to the CBI case.
A special court had earlier allowed the ED to confiscate around 39 properties of fugitive businessman Nirav Modi worth Rs 500 crore. In June 2020, in the first order of confiscation under the Fugitive Economic Offenders (FEO) Act, 2018, the court had directed that Modi’s properties be attached by the ED. However, it had exempted properties secured to PNB and a consortium of banks either through mortgage, hypothecation or personal guarantee. Modi was declared an FEO in December 2019.
Nirav is the subject of two sets of criminal proceedings, with the CBI case relating to a large-scale fraud upon PNB through the fraudulent obtaining of letters of undertaking (LoUs) or loan agreements, and the ED case relating to the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud. He also faces two additional charges of “causing the disappearance of evidence” and intimidating witnesses or “criminal intimidation to cause death”, which were added to the CBI case.
A special court had earlier allowed the ED to confiscate around 39 properties of fugitive businessman Nirav Modi worth Rs 500 crore. In June 2020, in the first order of confiscation under the Fugitive Economic Offenders (FEO) Act, 2018, the court had directed that Modi’s properties be attached by the ED. However, it had exempted properties secured to PNB and a consortium of banks either through mortgage, hypothecation or personal guarantee. Modi was declared an FEO in December 2019.