Major setback for Nirav Modi, Singapore Court freezes bank account on ED's plea

Singapore authorities on Tuesday attached bank accounts of billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi, prime accused in India’s biggest banking scam. The court ordered freezing Rs 44.41 crore in an account maintained by Pavilion Point Corporation, British Virgin Island whose beneficiaries were Mayank Mehta and Purvi Modi, brother-in-law and sister of fugitive Nirav Modi. This was done on Enforcement Directorate’s request, according to reports.

Nirav Modi, wanted in India in connection with the nearly USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case, was last week further remanded to judicial custody until July 25.       

Judge Jonathan Radway presided over the short remand hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court via video link from Wandsworth prison and re-confirmed July 29 as the date for the next case management hearing in the 48-year-old diamond merchant's extradition proceedings sought in the PNB fraud case.

The legal team for Modi, led by barrister Jessica Jones, brought to the judge's attention an issue related to the nearly 5,000-page set of documentation submitted by the UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on behalf of the Indian government.

An earlier report had said that Modi, the prime accused of India’s biggest banking scam, will be extradited to India much sooner and won’t be delayed like absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya. According to a report, India will be able to bring back Modi within six months. And unlike Mallya, Modi can’t argue on the grounds of ‘human rights’ and political motivation.

A report in Times of India had said that since the UK Courts had struck down the ‘human rights’ issue in Mallya’s hearing, it would give advantage to the India probe agencies. The report also said that the extensive and water-tight investigation papers by Indian agencies show enough proofs to meet the ‘dual criminality’ clause, which is required in the UK courts while dealing such cases.