After the recent success that saw 68 paintings of fugitive jeweller Nirav Modi being auctioned at Mumbai based auction house, Saffronart, 13 high-end luxury cars belonging to him are set to go under the hammer. There were doubts whether the recent auction of his art work would fetch the desired price, as they were suspected of being purchased with ill gotten gains from the proceeds of crime. However, the amount received of ₹ 55 crore was in excess of the reserve price of ₹ 50 crore and the proceeds were given to the Income Tax Department.
The auction of his cars is expected to take place in the third week of April and will be an online auction. However, interested buyers will be allowed to physically inspect the cars, but will not be permitted to carry out a test drive. Cars such as a Rolls Royce Ghost, Porsche Panamera, two Mercedes Benz, three Honda cars, a Toyota Fortuner and an Innova among others are expected to go under the hammer.
The billionaire diamond kingpin accused of perpetrating the biggest banking scam in India’s history, worth over ₹ 14,000 crore, was denied bail on Friday amidst being a flight risk and threatening a witness with his life in order to dissuade him from testifying and now sits in a London prison awaiting the result of his extradition order.
The magistrate, Emma Arbuthnot, who was in charge of Vijay Mallya’s extradition hearing as well, in a light hearted moment, inquired if there was a possibility of Mallya and Modi sharing the same prison cell at Arthur Road Prison in Mumbai should they both be extradited.
However, the most serious threat to Nirav Modi comes not from India, but the United States; where a bankruptcy court has charged him and two of his associates under the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organisations Act (RICO Act), which is a United States Federal Law designed to combat organised crime, and has been famously used to prosecute members of the fabled 5 Mafia families of New York city and other Italian mafia families across America.
Famous names such as John Gotti from the Gambino family and Fat Tony Salerno have fallen victim to this draconian act and have been given life sentences, and now to have our very own Nirav Modi among those that can possibly face the wrath of the American justice system under the RICO Act seems to capture the imagination.
Passed in 1970, the RICO Act focuses on a continuing criminal enterprise and allows prosecution and civil penalties for such. Under this act, if the defendant is proven guilty in two or more instances of racketeering activity together (which could include illegal gambling, bribery, money laundering, embezzlement and even drug trafficking or murder) he/she faces a stiff prison sentence which is significantly more than the total of the individual crime.
Example if money laundering has a five year sentence and securities fraud has a four year sentence, under a RICO indictment, if convicted on both counts, the defendant, instead of doing 4 + 5, which is 9 years, could end up doing 25 years.
Three of Nirav Modi’s companies, Firestar Diamonds, A. Jaffe and Fantasy Diamonds filed for bankruptcy protection in the US. However, subsequently, the bankruptcy executive in charge of the case accused Modi and two other of his top associates, Mihir Bhansali and Ajay Gandhi of formulating and implementing a scheme to defraud branches of Punjab national Bank in the US for their personal enrichment through a pattern of fraud, lies , deceit and corruption.
A successful conviction under the RICO Act could see Modi and his two associates facing up to 20 years in prison and an award of triple of damages plus attorney’s fees.
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