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Fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi will have to spend more time in jail as a UK court has denied his bail for the third time. Nirav is the main accused in the Punjab National Bank fraud and money laundering case amounting to up to USD 2 billion.
Dressed in a light blue shirt and trousers, the 48-year-old appeared before Westminster Magistrates Court Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot and sat behind a glass enclosure as the hearing got underway.
Modi’s defence team doubled the bail security to 2 million pounds and offered he would stay on 24-hour curfew at his London flat.
“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 during the lengthy hearing.
However, the judge was not convinced.
Earlier, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), arguing on behalf of Indian authorities, said Modi should not be granted bail as the evidence presented by the defence does not amount to change of circumstances required to third bail application.
