LONDON: The two frontrunners in the race to replace Rishi Sunak as Conservative Party leader and take his place in the House of Commons as Leader of the Opposition have thrown the spotlight on cutting immigration into the UK, with visas for Indians being singled out in heated debates.

Against the backdrop of the launch of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham on Sunday, former immigration minister Robert Jenrick singled out India as one of the countries that should be subjected to tough visa restrictions across all categories unless it takes back its nationals who enter Britain illegally.

His closest contender, shadow housing secretary Kemi Badenoch, has also zeroed in on the same issue and condemned new migrants bringing their disputes from India to cause unrest on the streets of the country.

“It is quite clear that there are many people who have recently come to this country who have brought views from their countries of origin that have no place here,” Badenoch told the BBC.

“I saw as equalities minister people bringing cultural disputes from India to the streets of Leicester… we need to make sure that when people come to this country, they leave their previous differences behind. This is not a controversial thing to say,” she said.

Nigerian-heritage Badenoch, considered among the favourites to win the ongoing Tory leadership election, was apparently referencing the clashes that broke out in Leicester in September 2022 in the wake of an India-Pakistan Asia Cup cricket match.

Meanwhile, her former ministerial colleague Robert Jenrick who has notched up an early lead in the contest told ‘The Daily Telegraph’ earlier this week that while India benefited from 250,000 visas in the past year, there were as many as 100,000 Indian nationals estimated to be illegally residing in the UK.

He lamented that deportations or removals to India remain stuck in the hundreds despite an India-UK Migration and Mobility Partnership which is designed to cover such returns of illegal migrants.

“The government must stop other countries exploiting our generosity by imposing severe visa restrictions and restricting foreign aid to countries that do not take back their nationals here illegally,” said Jenrick.

Over the four-day Tory conference starting on Sunday, Jenrick and Badenoch will go head-to-head with two other party colleagues – former Cabinet ministers James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat – as they make their leadership pitches before MPs vote in the next round. This time the field will be whittled down to the final two candidates who will then fight it out for the online ballot of the wider Conservative Party membership, many of whom will be making up their minds during the party conference. The new Conservative Party chief and Opposition Leader is then scheduled to be declared on November 2 after the voting closes.

The election follows the resignation of Sunak as Tory leader in the wake of the party’s bruising general election defeat in July under his leadership. The British Indian politician, who was re-elected member of Parliament from Richmond and Northallerton in northern England, has meanwhile been serving as interim leader until his successor is elected. 

ATHENS: Greece has witnessed a remarkable 37 per cent surge in property purchases by Indian investors between July and August. This flurry of activity is driven by Indian buyers eager to secure permanent residency under Greece’s Golden Visa Programme before significant regulatory changes took effect on September 1.

Launched in 2013, Greece’s Golden Visa programme offers residency permits in exchange for property investments, making it an attractive option for non-EU citizens. Its initial €250,000 (Rs 2.2 crore) threshold was one of Europe’s lowest, drawing significant investment and boosting Greece’s real estate market.

However, the surge in demand pushed up property prices, particularly in high-demand areas like Athens, Thessaloniki, Mykonos and Santorini. To address this, the Greek government raised the investment threshold to €800,000 (approx Rs 7 crore) for properties in these regions, effective September 1 2024.

Sanjay Sachdev, Global Marketing Director of Leptos Estates, noted an “unprecedented rush” of Indian homebuyers in recent months. “Many investors purchased under-construction projects with handover periods of six-twelve months,” said Sanjay Sachdev, as per MoneyControl.

Many invested in properties under construction, with completion timelines of six to twelve months. Leptos Estates reported selling out its available residential stock in Greece due to this surge.

Effective September 2024, the revised Golden Visa programme seeks to:

– Temper rapid price increases

– Promote equitable development

– Direct investment towards less saturated areas

The appeal of Greece’s Golden Visa Programme for Indian investors

– Greece offers attractive rental yields of 3-5 per cent annually, making property investments financially rewarding.

– Property values in Greece have been increasing at an impressive rate of 10 per cent year-on-year, with significant growth following the pandemic.

– Investors gain access to high-quality healthcare, education, and the opportunity to establish businesses within the EU.

Before the rule changes, Indian investors gravitated towards popular Greek islands like Paros, Crete, and Santorini for property purchases. 

LONDON: A luxury apartment in London used by Nirav Modi and held in a trust can be sold for a value not less than GBP 5.25 million after a high court ruling in London on Wednesday.

Master James Brightwell, the judge presiding over a hearing attended remotely by the 52-year-old fugitive diamond merchant from Thameside prison in south-east London, accepted representations from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to hold the proceeds from the sale of 103 Marathon House in a secure account after all “pressing liabilities” of the trust have been cleared.

The case involves Trident Trust Company (Singapore) Pte Limited as the claimant, seeking to sell its apartment asset in the Marylebone area of central London, and the ED arguing that the trust’s assets represent the proceeds of a massive fraud on the Punjab National Bank (PNB) for which Nirav Modi is facing extradition proceedings.

“I am satisfied that it is a reasonable decision to allow for the property to be sold for GBP 5.25 million or above,” Master Brightwell concluded.

He took note of ED’s other objections in the case relating to the creation of the trust itself, which were not pursued at this stage of the case. Barrister Harish Salve, appearing on behalf of ED, told the court that they had agreed to the sale in principle based on undertakings that protect the interests of the ultimate beneficiary, which may be the Indian exchequer, and averts a “fire sale” of the asset.

The judge noted that the case was a “very unusual one”, which involved a trust created in December 2017 in the name of Nirav Modi’s sister Purvi Modi and their family as beneficiaries.

Under an arrangement with the Indian authorities, Purvi Modi and her adult children did not participate in the proceedings. It left Nirav Modi, one of the named defendants in the case, claiming that he was the “true settler” of the trust and should be treated as a beneficiary. He also alleges that he gifted, or made a loan of, GBP 625,000 to the trust to procure the purchase of 103 Marathon House, which also entitles him to the proceeds from the sale.

Dressed in a casual t-shirt and sweater, Nirav Modi followed Wednesday’s proceedings from a room in the prison and interjected to flag an article in ‘The Financial Times’ about another money laundering case being investigated by ED. It then emerged in court that the current tenant of 103 Marathon House and one of the main prospective buyers, who had offered to buy it for GBP 5.25 million, is an Indian-origin entrepreneur suspected in the investigation.

Nirav Modi raised the concern that any money received from such a sale could be frozen by ED at a future date, which led the court to insert a caveat in the court order that there should be due consideration given to the proposed purchaser.

In 2022, Nirav Modi lost his legal battle in the Supreme Court against being extradited to India in the estimated USD 2 billion PNB loan scam case. But his case is now said to be “statute barred”, indicating further pending litigation.

Meanwhile, he has been appearing virtually from prison for related hearings, including for pending legal costs, or fines, amounting to GBP 150,247.00, accrued over his failed extradition appeal proceedings.

Earlier this month, another High Court summary judgment ordered a Dubai-based company connected with Nirav Modi – Firestar Diamond FZE – to repay a loan amounting to over USD 8 million owed to the Bank of India.

Nirav Modi was arrested on March 19, 2019, on an extradition warrant based on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and ED charges against the businessman. There are three sets of criminal proceedings against the diamantaire in India – the CBI case of fraud on the PNB which caused losses equivalent to over GBP 700 million, the ED case relating to the alleged laundering of the proceeds of that fraud and a third set of criminal proceedings involving alleged interference with evidence and witnesses in the CBI proceedings.

Then UK Home Secretary Priti Patel ordered Nirav Modi’s extradition based on Judge Sam Goozee’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court ruling in April 2021.