Mumbai: Diamantaire Nirav Modi was declared a fugitive economic offender on December 5 under Fugitive Economic Offenders Act by the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, on a plea of the Enforcement Directorate.
Order on confiscation of his properties would happen later, reported news agency ANI. He had fraud the PNB bank for Rs. 13000 crore.
After Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi is the second person to be declared a fugitive economic offender under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, which was enacted last year.
The Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 is an Act of the Parliament of India that seeks to confiscate properties and assets of economic offenders that evade prosecution by remaining outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts. This act has come into existence in August last year.
Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are the prime accused in the PNB fraud case, related to alleged fraudulent issuance of Letters of Undertaking that caused a loss of over $2 billion to the public sector banks.
Vijay Mallya was the first person who was declared under the act of fugitive economic offender for the fraud of Rs. 9000 crore.
In a setback to Nirav last month, a UK court yet again rejected his bail despite an offer of an “unprecedented bail package”, which included 4-million pounds in security as well as house arrest akin to those imposed on terrorist suspects.
The judge also decided that Modi will appear via video link on January 2, 2020. Meanwhile, he must appear before the court every 28 days.
Nirav has been behind bars at Wandsworth prison since his arrest on March 19 on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard on charges brought by the Indian government. During subsequent hearings, Westminster Magistrates’ Court was told that Nirav was the “principal beneficiary” of the fraudulent issuance of letters of undertaking (LoUs) as part of a conspiracy to defraud PNB and then laundering the proceeds of crime.
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