NEW DELHI: The BJP on Thursday condemned the Congress and accused it of trying to save absconding businessman Nirav Modi by allowing one of its members, a retired judge, to speak in his favour before a London court.
Union Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said Abhay Thipsay, a judge, who had served the Bombay and Allahabad High courts, and was now a Congress member, had given a “questionable, legally unsound opinion to influence the court and save Nirav Modi at the behest of the Congress party”
“We condemn this attempt by the Congress party to save Nirav Modi. This shows the real face of the party and its leaders
A retired judge is giving a judicial certificate. Is he some big professional (lawyer) or an arbitrator? It is an attempt to give questionable legal validity to influence the court at a time India is trying to bring Nirav Modi back,” Prasad said, adding that the country will leave no stone unturned to bring him back
Tipsay recently told the London court that charges levelled by the CBI against Nirav Modi, which include criminal conspiracy, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, would not hold up under Indian law.
“Unless someone is deceived there can be no cheating under Indian law. Deception is an essential ingredient of an offence of cheating. If no one was deceived in issuing LoUs there is no question of a corporate body being deceived.
The authority given to officials of the bank to issue LoUs cannot be said to be property and they cannot be said to be entrusted with property and therefore there cannot be a criminal breach of trust,” reports quoted Thipsay as saying.
Notably, the Congress had made the Punjab National Bank scam a key theme behind accusations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also alleged proximity between Nirav Modi and Prime Minister Modi.
However, according to Prasad, the Congress party has always tried to save “absconders like Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi. It is obvious that the retired judge is not working in isolation but is trying to save Nirav Modi at the behest of the Congress party at a time India is trying to bring him back”
Nirav Modi has challenged the Indian government’s extradition request for him.
An extradition request from the Indian government was certified by the UK Home Office in February last year before his arrest by Scotland Yard on March 19, 2019. The jeweller remains behind bars at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since then, failing to get bail despite repeated attempts.
According to the case against him, a number of PNB staff members conspired with Nirav Modi to ensure Letters of Understanding (LoUs) were issued to companies linked to him without ensuring that they were subject to the required credit checks, without recording the issuance of the LoUs and without charging the required commission upon the transactions. This resulted in a fraud amounting to nearly USD 2 billion.