UK confirms Nirav Modi's presence in Britain

The United Kingdom has confirmed that Indian diamantaire Nirav Modi who is at the centre of a money laundering case linked to the over Rs 13000 crore Punjab National Bank PNB fraud is currently in that country top officials said on MondayUK Minister Baroness Williams has also assured Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju at a meeting Britains full cooperation in the Government of Indias efforts to expedite Nirav Modi liquor baron Vijay Mallya and others extraditionUK authorities have confirmed Nirav Modis presence in Britain an official privy to the meeting saidModi who is absconding and has not joined the ED probe in the case till now and others are being probed under various criminal laws after the fraud came to light this year following a complaint by PNB that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of over Rs 13000 crore with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bankI had a very useful meeting with UK Minister Baroness Williams We discussed about IndiaUK joint efforts to deal with terrorism and extremism We also agreed to cooperate in the matters of extradition and sharing of information Rijiju told reporters after the hourlong meetingAn official said the Indianside tried to allay apprehension of the UK on the issue of human rights and conditions of jails saying India is a democracy and fully adhered to international lawsLetter Rogatories LRs in the cases lodged against Nirav Modi by the Enforcement Directorate ED the CBI and the Income Tax Department were sent to the UK Central Authority UKCA on March 19 April 14 and April 15 respectivelyThe UKCA has forwarded these LRs to the Serious Fraud Office SFO for execution and conveyed that action would be taken on implementation of the ED LR The ED and the SFO have entered discussions on the way forwardNirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate for allegedly cheating PNB the countrys second largest lender to the tune of more than Rs 13000 croreThe duo and others are also being probed by other central agencies after the fraud came to light this year following a complaint by PNB that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bankBoth Nirav Modi and Choksi were said to have left the country before criminal cases were lodged against themIndia is also pushing for the extradition of liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya who is on trial for the UK court to rule if he can be extradited to India to face charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to around Rs 9000 croresIn the case related to Mallya at a case management conference hearing held at the request of Mallyas lawyers on May 24 the judge has scheduled closing submission by the defence on June 21 and closing submission by India on July 26The hearing for final arguments in the case was deferred from July 11 to July 31In a separate development the State Bank of Indialed consortium of 13 banks won a case on May 8 wherein the Queens Bench Division of the commercial court in Englands High Court of Justice dismissed his plea to overturn a worldwide order freezing his assets and ruled that Indian banks were entitled to recover their funds from his assets in the UKThe last date for lodging an appeal against this decision by Mallya in the UK Court of Appeal was May 30 He has appealed on May 29Catch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever