World’s most wanted billionaire

A year on the run Found in central London Accused of embezzling £1.5bn

A BILLIONAIRE diamond tycoon who is India’s most wanted man has been tracked down by The Daily Telegraph to an £8million apartment in London’s West End.

Nirav Modi fled India last year after becoming a suspect in the biggest banking fraud in the country’s history.

Mr Modi, 48, a diamond jeweller whose designs have been worn by Hollywood stars, went on the run after being accused of defrauding £1.5 billion from an Indian bank.

An Interpol red notice for Mr Modi’s arrest was issued on the request of the Indian authorities in July but he has continued to remain at large.

The Telegraph has now tracked the jeweller down to a three-bedroom flat in the landmark Centre Point tower block, which has views across London. The rent for the property is likely to be about £17,000 a month.

India’s authorities have frozen his business bank accounts, while a string of boutiques – including a flagship store in Old Bond Street – have been shut down.

Yet The Telegraph can disclose that Mr Modi is involved in a new diamond business run from an office in Soho, just a few hundred yards from his new apartment. The business, which was incorporated last May, is linked to his flat in Centre Point, although he is not listed as a director at Companies House.

The Telegraph has also learnt from a Government source that Mr Modi was given a National Insurance number in recent months by the Department for Work and Pensions and has been able to operate online bank accounts in the UK while wanted by Indian authorities.

The ability of Mr Modi to continue living a privileged lifestyle in London will raise serious questions potentially threatening a rift between the UK and India.

It is not clear why the British Government has given him a National Insurance number while apparently failing to act on the Interpol red notice.

A red notice is a request to locate and provisionally arrest an individual

‘At the peak of his wealth, Forbes estimated he was worth £1.3bn, but a string of assets have been seized’

pending extradition. It is not an international arrest warrant and Interpol cannot compel any member country to arrest an individual who is the subject of a red notice.

One possibility put to the Home Office by The Telegraph is that Mr Modi may have applied for asylum in the UK. The Home Office said it does not comment on individual cases.

When approached by The Telegraph after leaving his new offices, Mr Modi repeatedly answered “no comment” to a series of questions put to him.

India is reported to have requested Mr Modi’s extradition, but courts appear to have no record of any case being opened against him.

The Interpol red notice names Nirav Deepak Modi as “wanted by the judicial authorities of India”. It includes a photograph and his date of birth. The red notice lists a string of charges that include “criminal conspiracy, breach of trust, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, corruption, and money laundering”.

Mr Modi is accused, along with his uncle Mehul Choksi, of defrauding Punjab National Bank. It is alleged that he and his associates had fraudulently acquired Punjab National Bank guarantees without approval that they later used to obtain loans from overseas branches of Indian banks.

Mr Modi, through his lawyers, has protested his innocence.

At the peak of his wealth, Forbes estimated that Mr Modi was worth £1.3billion. But a string of assets have been seized by Indian authorities, including luxury cars, jewellery, paintings and watches.

Properties in India – including a seaside bungalow which was demolished yesterday because it didn’t have proper planning permission – as well as apartments in New York and London worth £30million have also been seized by India’s Enforcement Directorate.