Surrender plan hatched with Mallya lawyer goes awry

LONDON: Nirav Modi knew an arrest warrant had been issued against him and wanted to be arrested in a less dramatic manner. He had, through his lawyer Anand Doobay, set up an appointment at 9am on March 25 at a central London police station. Doobay, of Boutique Law, also happens to be the solicitor of another fugitive from Indian law, Vijay Mallya.
This was how Mallya had done it.On April 18, 2017, at 8.30am, the former liquor baron had appeared at a central London police station by appointment. He had known about it in advance. There were no handcuffs. He was fully cooperative and was simply driven to Westminster magistrates’ court in a police car. But Nirav Modi’s arrest did not go as he had planned. Instead, uniformed police swooped down on him inside a London bank on Tuesday.
George Hepburne Scott, the barrister representing Nirav at Westminster magistrates’ court on Wednesday, said on Tuesday afternoon (March 19), the 48-year-old had gone to Metro Bank in Holborn to open a bank account with a revoked Indian passport and his council tax bill as his ID. When he got there, the bank clerk called the police.
Uniformed police turned up and his passport, which was revoked by the Indian government, was seized and he was arrested and taken to police cells. He spent the night in a cell before being produced at the Westminster magistrates’ court at midday local time (5.30 pm IST) on Wednesday.
Scott explained: “On March 12, the extradition squad contacted Doobay and Doobay requested an arrest appointment. The extradition squad called back on March 13 and the date of the arrest by appointment was fixed for March 25. My understanding is the extradition squad had fixed this up with both the CPS (crown prosecution service) and court.”
“There was an ongoing contact between the extradition squad and Boutique Law, including on March 15, when Doobay spoke to the detective sergeant in the extradition squad about the fact an arrest appointment would take place,” the barrister said.
“A time of 9 am was tentatively given at West End police station on March 25. On March 18, Doobay spoke to the CPS extradition squad enquiring who would be dealing with the case. He was told a senior CPS lawyer, Kate Leonard, was dealing with it but she was not in the office. On March 19, Doobay emailed Kate to discuss the case and bail conditions, etc. The email bounced back as she was in Romania on an official business,” he added.
Nirav Modi then attended Boutique Law offices on Tuesday afternoon in preparation for his expected hearing on March 25 and to provide material requested by his solicitors, Scott said. “His bank account had been frozen, so the same day he went to open a bank account at Metro Bank in Holborn so he could function,” Scott told the court.
“He went there with his passport and council tax document in order to open a bank account in his own name. As a result of widespread publicity about his arrest warrant, a bank clerk contacted the Metropolitan Police and uniformed officers attended and spoke to him. He was fully cooperative and showed them his passport and council tax documents. The police were aware of the existence of the arrest warrant and even though an appointment arrest had been made for Monday, because of the publicity and the arrest warrant being in existence, they thought they ought to execute it since he was in police hands. As a result of which we are here today, instead of Monday,” Scott said.