Priti Patel Criticizes UK System Over Nirav Modi's Continued Presence

LONDON: Priti Patel, the British Indian minister who signed off on Nirav Modi's extradition order to India as home secretary in April 2021 after a prima facie case was established in court, has said she is "appalled and horrified" that he is still in the UK. Patel, shadow foreign secretary on the Conservative Opposition benches, told 'The Daily Telegraph' podcast in an episode to be released next week that the Indian authorities were "hugely angry" over Britain's failure to extradite the jeweller wanted for one of the country's biggest banking frauds. 'The Diamond King' four-part podcast series traces the newspaper's discovery of the fugitive diamond merchant hiding out in a luxury London flat leading to his eventual arrest by Scotland Yard in March 2019. "If our system were judicious and doing the right thing, rather than tying itself up in process and excuses, he should not be in this country," Patel is quoted as saying. "I'm actually pretty appalled and horrified that he's still here, and I have to say, I suspect that really makes the India government feel quite demoralised about even working with us," she said. The 55-year-old jeweller remains in a London prison in connection with a USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case. He exhausted his legal options in the UK and reportedly has also lost a last-ditch plea at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in France, with his extradition seen as imminent.