Nirav Modi in London

Last week Nirav Modi, India’s most wanted fugitive economic offender, who India has been unable to locate, was spotted and trailed by a journalist in London. He was not alarmed, he showed no anxiety on being spotted and he was cool and cocky in his body language and conduct. He refused to engage in any conversation, with the journalist, which he stonewalled by offering no comments to any question. He was extremely well tutored and practised, with no tantrums, fumbles or irritation to boot. Nirav Modi in London showed no fear panic and calmly hailed a cab and was gone either to his multi million pound residence or to his office, both in the most expensive locations of London. The impression that he gave was that he and his team of advisors have in place, a plan A, B, C, D etc., to meet any eventuality, including being spotted and his whereabouts being found out, including his residence and business establishments. Being a wanted crook gave him no discomfort or embarrassment. No wonder this unruffled criminal, who is India’s biggest economic offender, was able to manipulate India’s banking system for years and was able to perpetrate such a huge crime, and then run away. The expensive ostrich skin jacket he wore shows his confidence of burying his head in the sand, indifferent to all that is happening around.

Nirav Modi walking on the swanky London streets, has numerous lessons and conclusions for us the common Indians, whose money he looted and ran away and they are as under:-

1. That a fugitive economic offender, who has cheated banks of hundreds of millions of dollars, has all the resources to migrate to a destination of his choice and re-establish himself. Every nation tends to welcome a rich person, irrespective of his pedigree. The fact that he is conducting his usual diamond business there, which needs huge capital, means that he is loaded with the loot that he took away from India and has used it to set up his infrastructure and business empire overseas. It also means that while in India he owes thousands of crores of rupees to banks etc., that is not so overseas, where he is not a defaulter, which explains his comfortable situation there. The case of the fugitive Sandesaras of Sterling Biotech is exactly similar.
2. The second lesson is that you can cheat Indian banks, retain the loot and flaunt it too. You do not need to thereafter escape and hide in some remote location in South America or Africa, under a new identity. If you wish to be in London, so be it, because with all the loot you have, you can certainly game and manipulate the British system too, or that of any other country.
3. Even if you are spotted, do not panic or be afraid. Your top dollar lawyers will certainly ensure that any extradition back to India is not easy and is years away if at all it happens. Your highly paid legal team will always ensure that you are two steps ahead of the law, because the law and its enforcers will always be entangled in delay tactics procedures and an over eager Indian media will always forewarn you of the possible government steps to nab you and bring you back.
4. And if London gets difficult for you and the law of the land finally catches up there with you, then board your private jet and fly off to destinations like Antigua where the likes of your uncle Mehul Chokshi are happily enjoying the sunshine on the Carribean beaches.
5. And finally, there is little to be afraid of the Government of India, whose powerful and extensive machinery failed to spot you for years. You need to be instead afraid of the likes of journalists and paparazzi, keen to get a scoop and a sensational story. Only thereafter will it get into action, by which time you may have changed your passport and country of residence, many more times