A British judge refused to grant Nirav Modi bail after the Indian billionaire jeweller appeared in a London court on Wednesday. Modi, 48, was arrested in the Holborn area of central London on behalf of Indian authorities who want to extradite him to face charges over a US$2 billion loan fraud at state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB). He was remanded in custody until March 29. PNB, India’s second-largest state-run bank, last year said that two jewellery groups headed by Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi had defrauded it by raising credit from other Indian banks using fraudulent guarantees issued by rogue staff of the bank. They have both denied wrongdoing. Modi’s India-based lawyer could not be reached for comment on Wednesday. Modi was born into a diamond-trading family, but went on to carve a glittering career for himself. He founded Firestar Diamond in 1999, first dealing in loose diamonds and later manufacturing jewellery for retailers around the world. In 2010, he started trading under his eponymous brand, opening shops in New York, London and in 2015 at the Elements shopping mall in Kowloon. In 2017, he opened another one at the IFC Mall and a 3,000 sq ft flagship store at an upscale shopping arcade in Tsim Sha Tsui. He boasted among his clients actresses Naomi Watts, Kate Winslet and Priyanka Chopra-Jonas. Fake Hong Kong diamonds by Nirav Modi cost me US$200,000 – and my fiancée PNB last year filed an initial criminal complaint accusing Modi and his uncle of defrauding it and Indian authorities, believing that the jeweller was in Hong Kong, submitted a request to the city’s Department of Justice for his provisional arrest. That June, the Financial Times cited officials in Britain and India as saying Modi had sought asylum in Britain, alleging political persecution. A month later, Interpol issued a notice for his arrest. Indian authorities sent Britain an extradition request for Modi and seized his as sets in four countries, including the US and Britain. Separately, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), India’s main financial crime fighting agency, said that a court on Wednesday issued a non-bailable warrant against Nirav Modi’s wife. The court also allowed the ED to auction 11 vehicles belonging to Modi – including Rolls-Royce, Porsche, Mercedes and Toyota – and income tax authorities to auction 68 paintings owned by him. In December, a British court agreed that another high-profile Indian businessman, aviation tycoon Vijay Mallya, could be extradited to his homeland to face fraud charges. Mallya is currently appealing the decision. Prakash Javadekar, a minister in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, said all the fugitives would have to come back and “return the looted money to the nation”. Reuters, Agence France-Presse with additional reporting by Raquel Carvalho
