LONDON: Fugitive billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi was denied bail in a London court on Friday , following his arrest last week on charges over his alleged involvement in a US$2 billion fraud at India's state-run Punjab National Bank.
A witness has alleged that Modi threatened to kill him and had also offered around 2 million Indian rupees as a bribe to offer false testimony, Toby Cadman, a lawyer representing the Indian government, told the court. Clare Montgomery, a lawyer representing Modi, said there was no evidence to support the claims of witness intimidation.Modi, whose diamonds have adorned Hollywood stars such as Kate Winslet and Dakota Johnson, is among those accused in India’s biggest banking fraud, which has shaken confidence in the country's state banking sector.
Punjab National Bank executives and government investigators have said that a lone middle-aged manager, later aided by a young subordinate, engineered fraudulent transactions totalling about US$1.8 billion from 2011 to 2017.