Neeshal Modi

Nehal Modi

Aditya Nanavati

Nirav Modi

Deepak Modi

PNB scam

Nirav Modi, his sister Purvi Modi and associate Aditya Nanavati

Twin Fields Investments Limited

Belgian authorities say his sister Purvi Modi, brothersand, and associatecan’t be handed over to India as they are Belgian citizens.India’s efforts to have four people accused in the Rs 13,400-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud extradited from Belgium have hit a wall. Belgian authorities have said they are unable to extradite the four on the grounds that they are Belgian citizens, said sources who are familiar with the probe and diplomatic efforts to have them extradited. The four are prime accused and fugitive’s sister Purvi Modi, brothers Neeshal Modi and Nehal Modi, and associate Aditya Nanavati. If renewed diplomatic efforts do not succeed in getting the Belgian authorities to consider either extraditing or deporting them, India may consider sharing evidence against the accused persons with them and ask that they be prosecuted in Belgium under that country’s money-laundering laws, a source said.Based on requests from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which are probing the money-laundering and corruption aspects of the scam, respectively, Interpol had issued red corner notices (international arrest warrants) against Modi’s siblings and Nanavati since last January, the source added. Nirav Modi’s fatheris also under the ED’s scanner and is suspected to be in Belgium too.Though India and Belgium have an extradition treaty, it is of no use when it comes to Belgian nationals, said the source. “Belgium recently communicated to India that as a matter of policy, it does not extradite Belgians to other countries, including those with which it has extradition treaties,” the source added. “Therefore, our understanding is that our extradition requests for specific individuals in the PNB case, who are located in Belgium and are Belgian citizens, will not have the desired outcome,” said the source.The source added that Belgian authorities did not go into the specifics of the cases against theaccused and only communicated the bottom line. “This means India is not liable to extradite an Indian national who may have committed a crime in Belgium,” he said.Of the five, Nehal Modi is accused of helping to destroy evidence and knowingly and intentionally assisting Nirav Modi in his alleged illegal acts. Nehal is also accused of destroying the mobile phones of 12 dummy directors of overseas shell firms and “the server containing crucial evidence of money-laundering located in Dubai at the behest of Nirav Modi,” according to an ED source. The directors were associated with firms that had received the proceeds of a crime; that is, funds allegedly obtained fraudulently from the PNB branch in Mumbai. Nehal was also allegedly headingand Bailey Bank and Biddle, which had received around $50 million from dummy companies of Nirav Modi. These dummy firms had allegedly received the funds from the PNB fraud. According to the ED probe, three of Modi’s firms had allegedly obtained more than Rs 6,400 crore from the bank’s Mumbai branch fraudulently, via Letters of Undertaking.Purvi Modi and Neeshal Modi are also accused of being beneficiaries of siphoned-off PNB funds that were fraudulently withdrawn from its Mumbai branch via Letters of Undertaking, a source said. The ED has also accused Nanavati of heading the operations of Modi group firm Firestar Diamonds in Hong Kong, and of being an associate of Neeshal Modi.“Getting Nirav Modi extradited from the UK is a priority but so is getting other accused people from abroad, whether they are in Belgium, the United States or Egypt. In the case of Belgium, an examination is on to see if there is a way out,” the source said. Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs said that efforts were underway to “find a solution, amid a global consensus among nations to clamp down on crimes such as money-laundering”. Belgium is one of 43 countries with which India has extradition an extradition treaty, the source said.Nirav Modi, who is fighting India’s efforts to have him extradited from the UK, is currently lodged in Wandsworth prison in south-west London. Last week, a UK court rejected his bail application for the fifth time, despite his offer of an “unprecedented bail package”, including a fourmillion pound security deposit and house arrest.