UK High Court refuses Nirav Modi’s application to appeal against extradition to India

New Delhi: UK High Court on Wednesday refused fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi’s application to appeal against his extradition to India. Nirav Modi is wanted in India in connection with Rs 13,500-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case.

Modi, 50, who was arrested in March 2019 and has been held in the Wandsworth prison in south London ever since, was ordered to be extradited by the UK Home Secretary Priti Patel on April 15, 2021.

Westminster Magistrate’s Court’s judge Sam Goozee made a decision on February 25, finding Nirav Modi guilty on all the charges saying that the fugitive businessman had a case to answer for and should be returned to India.

The Indian government alleges that Modi and his associates colluded with officials at the state-owned Punjab National Bank to defraud the bank out of more than USD 1.4 billion by using a credit facility known as Letters of Undertaking, a form of bank guarantee to facilitate international transactions.

The court had been told that the proceeds of the fraud were then laundered through a series of shell companies manned by dummy directors and located in Dubai and Hong Kong. Modi is also charged with the destruction of evidence and intimidating witnesses.