Topsgrup promoter Rahul Nanda case: Wanted by ED in India, hauled back to court by PNB International in London

A Punjab National Bank branch in the UK. Vivek Kapoor, representing PNB International Ltd, has submitted to a London court a list of 23 categories that detail the instances of Rahul Nanda’s “deliberate and intentional” failure to disclose key information about his finances. (Photo by Basher Eyre via Wikimedia Commons 2.0)

At the peak of his career Rahul Nanda was the toast of Page 3 parties in Mumbai. The owner of India’s celebrity security agency TopsGrup, he also made it to the Sunday Times Rich List in 2012 when his net worth was pegged at £168 million. A decade later, Nanda is now doing the rounds of the courts in London where he is being pursued by Punjab National Bank International Limited (PNBIL) to recover a judgment debt of £15.72 million.

After several appearances in court in 2022, Nanda appeared again in court last month where he faced new allegations of non-disclosure. The court was told that between 2018 and 2020, Dr Nanda and his family members have received close to £9 million, which he never disclosed. Moreover, in court filings, Nanda claims to have a monthly household income of only £4,700 but lives with his wife in a hotel suite in London designed for long stay.

PNBIL claims that Nanda’s conduct is fit to be referred to a high court judge for failure to disclose crucial financial information required to enforce the judgment debt. He faces serious allegations of not disclosing at least nine bank accounts in India, UK, and UAE (which includes Barclays, HDFC, ICICI, HSBC accounts), failing to disclose funds received from TopsGrup, his personal income-tax returns, and details of his assets. In summary, PNBIL claims that Nanda received millions of pounds from various sources, which has been not disclosed while the judgment debt remains unpaid.

Also in focus is Nanda’s holiday to Dubai in February-March 2022. During an earlier examination in court, he had admitted that he was in Dubai, but when pressed for how the trip was funded (the creditor has the right to ask judgment debtor for sources of funds to explain big-ticket expenses), Nanda backtracked and claimed that he hasn't left the UK since December 2020.

The proceedings against Nanda in the UK stem from the non-payment of the over £10 million loan PNBIL gave in 2013 to Shield Guarding Company Limited on his personal guarantee. Nanda had bought Shield Guarding Company Limited sometime in the late 2000s which had provided him an entrance to the security business in the UK. During the same period, he moved to the UK with his family, and bought some expensive homes.

If PNBIL thought they were getting a businessman featured in the Sunday Times Rich List as a client, it turned out to be a mirage as Shield Guarding Company Limited went into administration in April 2016. In July 2019, Nanda was ordered to pay £13,295,358.20 to PNB (now increased to £15.72 million), but in July 2022, Nanda applied for bankruptcy following which he was made bankrupt on July 21, 2022.

From July 2019 to now, not only has Nanda failed to pay the judgment debt, but according to PNB, concealed vital information about his financial standing by omitting crucial details. Over a period of nearly four years since the judgment debt became due, PNBIL, faced with the prospect of non-payment from Nanda, has ferreted out information piecing together details from the cases filed against him in India and its own groundwork.

The court was told that between 2018 and 2020, Dr Nanda and his family members have received close to £9 million, which he never disclosed.

“He (Nanda) had flunkeys doing everything for him; he lost his detailed grip on minor accounts that had small amounts of money,” said Nanda’s lawyer Paul Dipre. It has also emerged that Nanda sold his mansion in Buckinghamshire which signified his entry to the Indian-origin swish set in London. Countering allegations of non-disclosure by Kapoor, Dipre submitted to the court: “My client is adamant that he is not aware of that pot of gold (that is being sought by the bank).” Nanda is now believed to be living in a hotel suite designed for longer stay.

“The information and documents being sought from Dr Nanda are not extraordinary. These are routine and can be expected from any reasonable person. Dr Nanda is someone who has led successful international businesses. It is difficult to believe that he did not understand what this information and documents are,” said Kapoor.

In India, Nanda faces allegations of cheating, money laundering, and siphoning off millions of pounds and has non-bailable warrants issued against him. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been investigating allegations that Nanda secured a contract in 2014 to provide security guards to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) by allegedly colluding with politicians to benefit from inflated bills. At various points in the past, he was believed to be in Dubai, Oman, and Europe, but it is now established that he was based in the UK for a long time and continued to travel.

The connections Nanda made by providing security guards at some big hotels and film award functions helped him substantially increase his clientele. Nanda hired retired army generals at his company and was also believed to be hobnobbing with Israeli security companies for a possible tie-up at one point of time. In Mumbai, he resided in a bungalow in Andheri’s posh Lokhandwala Complex, which is now believed to have been sealed by the ED.

While Nanda is seemingly away from the reach of the Indian agencies, the proceedings launched by PNBIL have got him in a fix. The loan pertains to a UK-based company given by the UK subsidiary of an Indian bank, and he is now facing the music in London courts, without recourse to pleas that it is a politically motivated case or constitutes a miscarriage of justice, which were put forward by Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi during their extradition cases.