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INTERNATIONAL

financial hubs like New York, Dubai and about 1.4 million people, excluding those abroad by some of the Indians migrat-
Singapore where dodgy cash is cleaned of mixed Indian and other ancestry, is the ing abroad and presently that number
up, assert that London entails unique single largest visible ethnic minority and might have grown further. London is said
traits in handing vast amounts of dirty the largest subgroup of British Asians. to be a favourite jaunt for the migrating
money. One expert has opined that ty- Most of the British Indians are said to wealthy Indians and many of them own
coons facing arbitrary rules at home can belong to middle to upper middle class, hotels, restaurants, and entertainment
seek refuge under British legal system with bulk of them engaged in profes- outlets in the British capital. Many luxu-
where relaxed rules on ownership are sional and managerial vocations. rious dwelling units are owned by the
geared towards rich foreigners. Apart British Indians. According to one expert,
from London, British offshore territo- resence of Indian Diaspora in Brit- offshore component of many Indian
ries also serve as ideal places for money ain has come to wield substantial business deals has made London an at-
laundering. P influence on British culture — tractive spot. Vijay Malaya, the arms deal-
In the aftermath of promulgation of from food and the arts to entertainment er Sanjay Bhandari, Sudhir Choudhrie,
the Criminal Finances Act 2017, sweep- and politics. In the outgoing House of Ravi Shankaran and Abhishek Varma
ing powers have been vested in the Commons, there were 12 British Indian have all found safety and comfort in
British government to investigate those MPS and in the recently held general London and they own sizeable property
involved. Besides, Unexplained Wealth election, the number of British Indian there. There. A good deal of arms dealing
Orders (UEOs), introduced in February MPs has gone up to 15 in the new House. was facilitated by the Nanda family via
2018, require recipients explain prop- Besides, in the aftermath of dismal per- London. Recycling of capital flows to In-
erty purchases which far exceed their formance of the Labour Party in recent dia via Cyprus, Mauritius or Jersey is con-
reported income. All these are touted as election, a British Indian MP is being nected through the UK.
positive measures to undo the impacts of tipped to head the Labour Party. Vijay Vittal Mallya, an Indian business
black money. It is often argued that many Interestingly, India is fast losing its tycoon, currently facing extradition pro-
foreigners set up their shop in London to high net worth individuals (HNI), also ceedings in London, is the subject of an
extradition effort by government of India
to be brought to India from the UK to face
charges of alleged unpaid debt of around
1.145 billion pounds. The property owned
by him in the UK, inter alia, includes: two
superyachts, a game reserve in South Af-
rica, numerous undeclared high-value
and vintage cars, valuable paintings and
a piano previously owned by famous
British singer-songwriter Elton John
etc. He is also said to own a plush home
overlooking Regent’s Park in the heart of
London.
Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav
Modi, wanted in India in connection
with duping Indian banks to the tune of
escape corruption allegations back home termed as dollar-millionaires to migra- nearly US $ 2 billion, has been lodged at
and they park their illicit money in pur- tion in recent years. Approximately 23, Wandsworth prison in south-west Lon-
chasing luxurious properties. 000 dollar-millionaires left India since don, one of England’s most overcrowded
According to some analysts, targeting 2014, with 7, 000 leaving in 2017 and jails, since his arrest in March 2019 on
individuals and/or their funds becomes 5000 leaving in 2018; and the crackdown an extradition warrant. Currently under
riskier as the UK government lacks juris- on black money set in motion by the judicial custody, he will face his extradi-
diction to prosecute as well as the extra- NDA government headed Prime Minis- tion trial hearing in May 2020. He is said
judicial investigative capabilities. In this ter Modi is said to be the most plausible to live in a property worth over 8 million
regard, one analyst has observed that cause for the exodus. India along with pounds (over Rs 72 crore) near Oxford
Britain’s response to the threat posed by China and Russia are the top three coun- Street in London’s West End, Nirav Modi
illicit financial flows has so far been more tries having witnessed the exodus of has been given the Nation Insurance
thundering rhetoric than meaningful HNIs in recent years to Australia, Canada, Number, which allows him to do busi-
action. Dubai, UK and other destinations. ness in the UK.
According to broad estimates based The author is Executive Editor of News24.
Indian Diaspora on media reports, gross illicit assets Views expressed are the author’s own
Indian Diaspora in the UK, comprising worth US $ 462 billion had been parked LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM

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