Fraudster Nirav Modi Will Continue To Be In Jail As UK Court Rejects His Third Bail Plea

Diamond businessman Nirav Modi, who is one of India's most wanted economic offenders, will continue to remain in Wandsworth prison in London after the Chief Magistrate at Westminster Magistrates Court rejected his bail plea.

This is the third time that the UK court has rejected the bail application of Modi who was arrested by the Scotland Yard in March.

Earlier, presenting his case, Modi's lawyer had offered to double the bail security to ?2 million and stated that he would stay on 24-hour curfew at his London flat.

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¡°Conditions in Wandsworth (prison) are unliveable¡­ Modi is willing to abide by any conditions you choose to impose,¡± his barrister Clare Montgomery told the judge.

She also argued that Modi will not flee the UK after he is granted bail as most of his assets and bank accounts had been frozen by the Indian authorities.

Montgomery also rejected charges that Modi had '"imprisoned" his employees in Egypt to stop them from giving evidence against him.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had sent a team to London to oppose the bail application of Modi.

Presenting the Indian argument, the UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), argued that the case was "not an ordinary corporate case", with direct evidence of embezzlement of funds with the connivance of bank officers in India.

The court, taking note of the fact that Modi lacked community ties in the UK and the risk that he would attempt to interfere with witnesses and damage evidence, and the risk that he would attempt to use the substantial means available to him to evade justice rejected the bail application.

Modi, once a celebrated luxury jeweller in India, had been on the run from the Indian law since the beginning of 2018 after an elaborate scam he had been running for years surfaced.

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He had taken loans from banks using fraudulently obtained LoUs from Punjab National Bank, defrauding them to the tune of Rs 13,000 crore.

Modi, who along with his family fled India before the scam surfaced had been living in London since. There were also reports that he had applied for citizenship in Vanuatu and two other European countries.