Billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi flees to UK, claiming political asylum: Report

NEW DELHI: Nirav Modi, the billionaire jeweller at the heart of a more than $2 billion fraud case, has fled to the UK, where he is claiming political asylum, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing Indian and British officials.Britain's Home Office said it does not provide information on individual cases.
Nirav Modi could not be contacted by Reuters for comment on the FT report.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Nirav Modi is in London trying to claim asylum from what he calls "political persecution", the Financial Times reported on Sunday
• Britain's Home Office said it does not provide information on individual cases

Punjab National Bank, the country'a second-largest state-run bank, said earlier in 2018 that two jewellery groups headed by Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi had defrauded it of about $2.2 billion by raising credit from overseas branches of other Indian banks using illegal guarantees issued by rogue PNB staff at a Mumbai branch over several years.

CVC had raised alarm a year before Nirav Modi-Mehul Choksi scam broke Nirav Modi is in London trying to claim asylum from what he calls "political persecution", the FT reported.

Ministry of external affairs told the FT that the government was waiting for law enforcement agencies to approach them before pushing for an extradition, which had thus far not happened. The ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment outside regular working hours.

The Centre is already seeking the extradition of liquor and aviation tycoon Vijay Mallya over unpaid loans to his defunct Kingfisher Airlines after the businessman and co-owner of the Formula One Force India team moved to Britain in March last year.

Police filed charges against more than 25 people in May including Modi, Choksi, former PNB chief Usha Ananthasubramanian, two of the bank's executive directors and three companies belonging to Nirav Modi.

Last month, senior executives at the bank were accused by the police, in a chargesheet filed in court, of misleading the central bank in late 2016 over the lender's handling of the financial messaging system and credit guarantees that were at the centre of the fraud.