Indian media report that Malta police refused to arrest Lalit Modi

Reports in the media in India dated two months ago say that the Maltese authorities turned down a request by the Enforcement Directorate in India to arrest Lalit Modi on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by the Court of Justice in Mumbai.

Modi visited Malta in August last year. He came through the ministerial lounge and was met by a driver from the Office of the Prime Minister. He had come to collect his Maltese passport, having applied to buy it under the government’s scheme introduced in 2013.

UPDATE/Modi had fled India and moved his family to London when he was being investigated for fraud, kickbacks, match-fixing and money-laundering. In 2010, the government of India withdrew his passport, leaving him unable to travel, but in 2104 – with the help of Labour MP Keith Vaz, he obtained temporary travel documents from the British government for a two-year period until 2016. Meanwhile Modi had applied to buy a Maltese (EU Schengen zone) passport.

Modi is close to the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri. His application to buy a Maltese passport was made through Brian Tonna of Nexia BT and Mossack Fonseca (Malta), a franchise of the Panamanian law firm, which is 100% owned by Tonna.