Nirav Modi plans to take UK bail plea to High Court

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Apr 3, 2019

Nirav Modi plans to make a third UK bail application, this time at London’s High Court. Modi is now accused of threatening the dummy directors of his shell companies not to come forward in the case.

Nirav Modi awaits his extradition hearing in the UK to find out if he will be sent back to India to stand trial for his accused fraud at the Punjab National Bank. After his first two bail applications were rejected by a Westminster Magistrates' Court, Modi aims to make a third appeal at the High Court.

“Mr Modi intends to appeal his bail decision, but he has not yet submitted the appeal,” a UK Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson stated on April 2, as reported by the Press Trust of India. Modi is currently being held in London’s Wandsworth Prison and his next remand hearing is scheduled for April 26.

One of the reasons that Modi was denied bail was evidence presented to the judge that he had tampered with evidence and destroyed mobile phones and a server. The Mumbai Mirror also reported that sources from the Enforcement Directorate stated that Modi assembled his shell companies’ dummy directors in Dubai and the UAE then flew them to Egypt where they were intimidated. Modi reportedly took the directors’ passports and kept them in confinement against their wishes. 

The Mirror also reported that an executive of Modi’s jewellery brand Firestar India, Subhash Parab, was sent to Cairo as he was the “link with the bank”. Parab is allegedly yet to return from Egypt. Details of these allegations were presented on March 29 at Modi’s second UK bail hearing.