On Monday 11 May – the first day of the five-day trial – Modi appeared in court via video link from Wandsworth Prison, where he has been held since his arrest at a London bank in March last year.
Modi is wanted by Indian authorities on charges of conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to conceal criminal property as part of the $2.8 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud. He faces life imprisonment if convicted.
A further extradition request – on the basis of two more charges relating to concealing evidence and witness intimidation – was certified by British Home Secretary Priti Patel in February this year.
Helen Malcolm QC, acting for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), told the court that Modi and his associates operated a “circular Ponzi scheme of borrowing”, conspiring with bank officials to obtain fraudulent loans which were then used to pay off pre-existing debts, UK legal publication Law360 reports.
“There is really nothing very complicated about this case. It covers three aspects — the fraud, then laundering of that fraud money and the rotation of goods around the Modi empire,” the report quotes Malcolm as saying.
It has been reported that Modi also concealed his control of three companies used in the fraud – Diamonds R Us, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamond – by installing ‘dummy directors’.
The illegal activities are alleged to have taken place between 2011 and 2017, with India’s Central Bureau of Investigation raiding Modi’s properties in February 2018 after being alerted to the fraud.
He is facing separate legal proceedings in the US following the liquidation of three diamond companies which were also allegedly involved in the scheme.
Modi is thought to have fled New Delhi in early 2018, subsequently residing in New York and Hong Kong and visiting Switzerland and Cyprus before surfacing in London in January 2019.
The former jewellery mogul – whose namesake brand has been worn by celebrities including Kate Winslet, Naomi Watts, and Priyanka Chopra – was once estimated to have a personal fortune of $US1.8 billion ($AU2.8 billion) by Forbes.
He was denied bail at least five times following his arrest in March 2019, on the grounds that he posed a flight risk and had the means to intimidate further witnesses.
Modi's uncle Mehul Choksi, managing director of luxury jewellery company Gitanjali Gems, was also charged in relation to the PNB fraud and is the subject of an Interpol Red Notice. He is believed to reside in the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda, where he has citizenship, although authorities have reportedly agreed to extradite him to India once he has exhausted other legal options.
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