A special court here on Friday allowed 'restoration' of properties worth Rs 500 crore of fugitive jeweler Nirav Modi 's firms to Punjab National Bank (PNB). This is the third such order in a span of about two weeks, with the total value of properties owned by Nirav Modi's companies being restored in this manner now standing at approximately Rs 1,000 crore.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has conceded for the first time that divisions within the ruling African National Congress prevented appropriate action against the influential Gupta family from India for their alleged involvement in massive state capture.

A high court judge in London on Monday granted fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi permission to appeal against a magistrates' court order in favour of extradition to India to face charges of fraud and money laundering before the Indian courts on mental health and human rights grounds. Justice Martin Chamberlain delivered his verdict remotely under COVID-19 rules to conclude that the arguments presented by the 50-year-old diamond merchant's legal team concerning his "severe depression" and "high risk of suicide" were arguable at a substantial hearing. He also noted that the adequacy of the measures capable of preventing "successful suicide attempts" at Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai, where Nirav Modi is to be detained upon extradition, also fall within the arguable ambit.

Counsels for AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam accused Christian Michel and fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi were also the potential targets of Israeli spyware Pegasus.

The Insolvencies and Companies Court of London high court on Monday declared fugitive business baron Vijay Mallya a bankrupt person as per UK laws. Legal experts explain what this means for 65-year old Mallya's personal liberties, his legal battle against extradition to India to face trial, and for the consortium of Indian lenders - at whose behest the bankruptcy proceedings were initiated in the UK courts.

A British court on Monday granted a bankruptcy order against Vijay Mallya, paving the way for a consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) to pursue a worldwide freezing order to seek repayment of debt owed by the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. "As at 15.42 [UK time], I shall adjudicate Dr Mallya bankrupt," Chief Insolvencies and Companies Court (ICC) Judge Michael Briggs said in his ruling during a virtual hearing of the Chancery Division of the high court. "I have to decide if there is a real prospect of payment of petition debt in full within a reasonable period of time... there is insufficient evidence that [Mallya's asset realisations in India] will pay the debt in full within a reasonable period of time," Judge Briggs noted, in reference to defence arguments pointing to a restoration process in India following a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court order for the attachment of Mallya's assets.

Talks between Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman to improve the relations got off on a rough note at the northeastern Chinese port city of Tianjin, with Xie launching a blistering attack on Washington, accusing it of being the "owner of coercive diplomacy".

Diamantaire Mehul Choksi will "only" return to Dominica to face trial for illegal entry into that country when a doctor "certifies" that he is fit to stand trial, the media there reported citing conditions laid down by the Dominica high court while granting him bail. In a major setback to Indian efforts to bring him from the Caribbean country, Dominica high court Judge Bernie Stephenson allowed the businessman to return to Antigua and Barbuda, where he has been living as a citizen since 2018 after leaving India, to seek medical advice from neurologist Hayden Osborne at the Mount St. John's Medical Centre, Dominica News Online reported. Choksi is having a clot in brain besides other health issues such as diabetes and hypertension, his legal team has submitted.

A total of 254 millionaires from India have used the so-called "golden visa" to settle down in the UK through a large investment into the country since the route opened in 2008, according to a new report released by a UK-based anti-corruption charity on Monday. Spotlight on Corruption said that Indians ranked as the seventh nationality of super-rich to have availed of the Tier 1 (Investor) Visa, adding up to 254 between 2008 and 2020. China topped the list at 4,106, followed by Russia (2,526), Hong Kong (692), the United States (685), Pakistan (283) and Kazakhstan (278) ahead of India.

Alleging that his arrest in Dominica for illegal entry was "dictated" by representatives of the Indian government, absconding diamantaire Mehul Choksi has filed a case in the high court of Roseau, seeking to quash the proceedings against him, local media there reported. The case was filed against the immigration minister of the Caribbean nation, its police chief and the investigating officer of the case. Choksi, who went missing from Antigua and Barbuda where he had been living since 2018 after his escape from India, was arrested on May 23 in neighbouring Dominica for illegal entry. He was declared a prohibited immigrant by the Ministry of Immigration in Dominica.

Despite recent developments that have accelerated the impending extradition of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, who has been in custody in London's Wandsworth Prison for over two years, the last month has seen his uncle Mehul Choksi dominate the headlines instead with his circus-like exhibition in the Caribbean that has involved red herrings such as a "girlfriend", to whom his wife seemed to have no objection, and possibly concocted stories of being kidnapped and manhandled. Choksi was widely regarded as Modi's Svengali in Mumbai when he returned from Belgium to expand his business. He had fled to Antigua well before news around how Modi finagled thousands of crores from Punjab National Bank (PNB) and other institutions through a series of allegedly coordinated and fraudulent actions involving letters of undertaking, or LoUs.

The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that this is a bigger bank scam in volume than that of the Punjab National Bank fraud by fugitive diamantaires Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, as it involves fraud to the tune of about Rs 16,000 crore.

The 50-year-old jeweller, who remains behind bars at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London, had lost the first stage of the high court appeals process last week as a judge declined permission to appeal "on the papers". Modi's lawyers had five days to file a renewal application seeking an oral hearing to plead the case for permission to appeal against the extradition ordered by UK Home Secretary Priti Patel on April 16.

A State Bank of India (SBI)-led consortium that gave loans to fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya on Friday received Rs 5,824.5 crore in its accounts after shares of UBL, earlier attached under the anti-money laundering law, were sold recently, the ED said. Mallya is accused in a multiple banks loan default case of about Rs 9,000 crore. The disputes resolution tribunal (DRT) had sold these shares on June 23 after the Enforcement Directorate had transferred shares worth about Rs 6,624 crore of UBL to the SBI-led consortium on the directions of a special PMLA court that is hearing the case involving Mallya in Mumbai. These shares were attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by the ED, a central probe agency.

Magistrate judge Jacqueline Chooljian on Thursday ordered the defence attorneys and prosecutors to file additional documents by July 15, which was reported by a US news agency.

It was perhaps over-enthusiasm that prompted the Indian investigative agencies to take a private jet to Dominica to bring back fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi. Predictably, the eight-member team had to return empty-handed after almost a week-long wait. The agencies were banking too much on the "state-less" status of Mr Choksi, as Antigua, which had given him citizenship in 2017, wasn't willing to take him back. Thus, the calculation was that Mr Choksi would be whisked away from the Dominican courtroom to the waiting plane. The reason for the optimism was also because Antigua is friendly territory for India.

Hours earlier, a Spanish court issued a preliminary ruling in favor of the 75-year-old tycoon's extradition to the United States to face tax-related criminal charges.

Wanted diamond merchant Nirav Modi, whose extradition to India was ordered in April by UK Home Secretary Priti Patel in the estimated USD 2-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case, has lost the first stage of his extradition appeal in the high court in London.

About 40 per cent of the money lost by banks in the PNB scam and the fraud linked to fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya's defunct Kingfisher Airlines has been realised by way of sale of shares seized under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the Enforcement Directorate said on Wednesday.

A Delhi Court on Friday dismissed the bail pleas of alleged middleman Christian Michel in connection with alleged AgustaWestland scam related corruption case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, and the money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate.

A Dominica Magistrate Court has adjourned till June 25 the hearing into alleged illegal entry of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi into the Caribbean island nation, local media there reported. On Monday, the Magistrate Court was to start hearing the case of Choksi's "illegal entry" into the country on May 23 but he was a "no show", a media website Natureislenews reported. His legal team submitted a medical certificate from the doctors of Dominica China Friendship Hospital, where Choksi is being held, of "mental stress" and elevated blood pressure.

Given how everything has played out, Mehul Choksi, now 62, achieved all that he wanted but for all the wrong reasons, says Pavan Lall.

Currently, Choksi has got interim relief from immediate repatriation to India by the Dominican court.

"Well, he never used words like escape or shared with me such a plan like this. However, he did ask me twice if I have ever been to Cuba, he also told me that the next time we may meet in Cuba. He never explained the escape plan but I'm certain that Dominica is not his final destination but if you ask my opinion, I can be more and more certain that Cuba could have been his final destination," Barbara told ANI.

'I'm not sure it's a bubble.'

Armed with court order, a consortium of lenders led by SBI can now sell certain real estate properties and securities belonging to fugitive Vijay Mallya to recover loans turned bad with failure of Kingfisher Airlines. A consortium of 11 banks that gave Mallya loans, led by State Bank of India (SBI), had approached a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court seeking restoration of his properties seized by the Enforcement Directorate. The special PMLA court in Mumbai on Tuesday allowed the restoration of properties worth Rs 5,646.54 crore to banks.

'My husband is no longer an Indian citizen. 'In 2017, he ceased to be an Indian citizen.' 'The safest place on earth for him is Antigua'

The Dominica high court on Wednesday ordered that diamantaire Mehul Choksi be produced before a magistrate there to answer charges of his illegal entry into the Caribbean island country, local media reported. Dominica high court Judge Bernie Stephenson issued the orders after nearly three hours of hearing on a habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of Choksi who had claimed that he was abducted from neighbouring Antigua and Barbuda and forcefully brought to the Caribbean Island nation. She adjourned the habeas corpus matter till Thursday, Dominica News Online reported.

The Government of Dominica has told a court there to reject the habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of businessman Mehul Choksi who had claimed that he was abducted and forcefully brought to the Caribbean island nation, local media reported. The high court of Dominica ordered that the businessman be produced in a magistrate court to answer charges of his illegal entry into the country and adjourned the hearing on the habeas corpus petition till Thursday, according to local media. Rejecting the submission of Choksi who is wanted in India in an alleged Rs 13,500 crore loan fraud case in Punjab National Bank, the prosecution said the habeas corpus petition does not stand as he had illegally entered the country and was subsequently detained.

He said that Government of Dominica and law enforcement agencies, unless the court rules otherwise, can deport him to India because he is an Indian citizen, Antigua News Room reported.

The Dominica high court has stayed the removal of Choksi from its soil and put a gag order on the developments till the matter is heard in an open court on June 2.

The case of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi is proving to be a hot potato for the governments of Carribbean island countries, with Antigua and Barbuda asking the neighbouring Dominica to repatriate him to India, and the latter nation considering returning him to Antigua. Sources in India said the government is making efforts to bring him back as soon as possible. The fugitive businessman, who was residing in Antigua and Barbuda since 2018 after his escape from India, had gone missing on Sunday under mysterious circumstances. He was later "detained" in Dominica for illegal entry.

Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne has asked neighbouring Dominica, where fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi was caught, to hand the diamantaire over to India directly, local media reported.

Police in Dominica captured Choksi on Tuesday night (local time) after an Interpol Yellow Notice was issued by Antigua and Barbuda.

Vijay Mallya on Wednesday lost an appeal to gain further access to court-held funds to cover his costs for legal proceedings in India, as a high court judge in London concluded that the 65-year-old businessman had failed to provide sufficient evidence in support of the over 750,000 pounds being sought. During a remote hearing of the Chancery Division, Justice Robert Miles handed down his judgment in favour of a consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI). He also directed Mallya to cover 95 per cent of the costs of the appeal as the banks had been "very substantially successful" and the "overall winners" in fighting the case to prevent further sanctions from the court-held funds.

Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, wanted in a Rs 13,5000-crore loan fraud in Punjab National Bank, has gone missing in Antigua and Barbuda where he had been staying since January 2018, the Royal Police Force of the Caribbean island nation said in a statement.

A consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) on Tuesday moved a step closer in their attempt to recover debt from loans paid out to Vijay Mallya's now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines after the high court in London upheld an application to amend their bankruptcy petition, in favour of waiving their security over the embattled businessman's assets in India. Chief Insolvencies and Companies Court (ICC) Judge Michael Briggs handed down his judgment in favour of the banks to declare there is no public policy that prevents a waiver of security rights, as argued by Mallya's lawyers. At a virtual hearing, July 26 was set as the date for final arguments for and against granting a bankruptcy order against the 65-year-old Mallya after the banks accused him of trying to "kick matters into the long grass" and called on the "bankruptcy petition to be brought to its inevitable end".

'One cannot avoid speculating whether there was something else at play that led to the uncovering of this saga.'

'It could take at least a couple of years for his case to go through the entire run of the British judiciary.'

The issue of extradition of Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi figured in a virtual summit between India and the UK on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserting that economic offenders should be sent back to the country at the earliest for trial. India has been pressing the United Kingdom to extradite Mallya and Modi to face trial in India for their alleged involvement in cases relating to financial fraud. At a media briefing, joint secretary in the Europe West division in the ministry of external affairs (MEA) Sandeep Chakravorty said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has mentioned that the authorities in the UK will do whatever possible to make sure that the economic offenders are extradited.