E-Paper
Fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi loses legal battle as UK court clears sale of London luxury flat
Modi, 55, is currently behind bars in London while fighting extradition to India in connection with fraud and money laundering charges.
Prefer HTon Google
A luxury apartment in central London linked to jailed former jeweller Nirav Modi can now be sold after a UK court approved the transaction, setting a minimum sale price of £3.75 million.
Modi, 55, is currently behind bars in London while fighting extradition to India in connection with fraud and money laundering charges.
He has been in custody since his arrest in 2019 over allegations linked to the USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud.
Master James Brightwell, who presided over a hearing in the Chancery Division of the High Court on Tuesday, gave the “court's blessing” for the sale of 103 Marathon House in central London, with the minimum price set at £3.75 million, news agency PTI reported.
The proceedings were brought by Trident Trust Company (Singapore) Pte Limited. The Enforcement Directorate had previously successfully argued that the proceeds from the sale should be placed in a secure account once all “pressing liabilities” of the trust have been cleared.
“The natural starting point is that the debts that are due should be paid. In this case, that is supported by the fact that the court made an order for sale in 2023 and reiterated this with a further order to lower sale price in 2024 was ultimately made with the assent of the other active parties,” Master Brightwell ruled, as reported by the agency.
“The third defendant's (Nirav) complaints about the way in which the trustee has set out its decision do not render the decision one which a trustee could not properly reach,” he said.
Modi attended the hearing via videolink from HMP Wandsworth, the south-west London prison where he is lodged while continuing to contest separate extradition proceedings.
He had opposed the sale of the property as one of the named defendants in this week's hearing. Modi claimed that he was the “true settler” of the trust and should therefore be treated as a beneficiary.
Nirav Modi's political asylum bid
Meanwhile, after exhausting other legal avenues, Nirav Modi is believed to have submitted a second claim for political asylum in what could be a last-ditch attempt to prevent his extradition to India.
Modi was arrested by Scotland Yard officers on an extradition warrant at a Metro Bank branch in central London on March 19, 2019. An official recognised him while he was attempting to open a bank account.
His extradition proceedings have since been delayed by several High Court appeals on human rights grounds, a failed confidential political asylum claim and a series of unsuccessful bail pleas.
The jeweller, who remains behind bars at one of England's most overcrowded prisons, also sought to reopen his extradition case. The England High Court rejected that attempt in March this year.
CBI arrests Nirav Modi's aide
On Tuesday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Sandeep Bharat Mistry, a close aide of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, upon his deportation from the UAE in the $2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud probe.
Mistry, according to officials, was wanted by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his involvement in the fraud, which involved fictitious international trade transactions.
Elaborating on his role in PNB fraud, an officer said, “Mistry acted as a key link between various entities, overseeing their day-to-day operations and issuing the instructions through clandestine, self-deleting communication platforms to conceal evidence”.
(With inputs from PTI)
