Westminster Magistrates' Court In London Rejects Nirav Modi's Bail Application Despite Offer To Double Security

A court in the United Kingdom has rejected a new bail application of fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, who is fighting extradition to India on charges of defrauding the Punjab National Bank (PNB) of nearly USD 2 billion as well as a money laundering case.

He was produced before the Westminster Magistrates' Court in London to make another attempt to secure bail.

However, Judge Emma Arbuthnot rejected his latest bail application despite his offer to double security amount from 2 million UK pounds to 4 million UK pounds.

He reportedly claimed anxiety and depression in his latest application, with earlier bail applications at the court being rejected by Chief Magistrate Arbuthnot, and then also on appeal at the High Court in London, as he was deemed a flight risk.

His legal team has previously described their client's experience in prison as “damaging” and offered stringent electronic tag and other conditions akin to house arrest at his posh Centrepoint apartment in the West End of London in an attempt to persuade the judge to grant bail.

In June, Modi's legal team took his appeal against that ruling to the Royal Courts of Justice in London, where a judge was told about the diamond merchant's troubled state of mind in “confidential” documents.

Modi 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.

The Westminster Magistrates' Court was told during subsequent hearings that Nirav Modi 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 his crime in violation of Indian law.