I could possibly be in England for years, Nirav Modi tells UK courtroom
LONDON: Nirav Modi, the fugitive diamond service provider needed in India to face trial on fraud and cash laundering prices, informed a UK courtroom on Thursday that he could possibly be in England for years as some ongoing proceedings stop his extradition.
The 52-year-old former billionaire appeared for a listening to at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court in east London by way of video hyperlink from Thameside jail in relation authorized prices, or fines, amounting to GBP 150,247.00, accrued over his failed extradition enchantment proceedings within the London High Court.
Dressed in a pink prison-issue outfit and sporting a moustache, a plump and bald Nirav addressed the three-member magistrates’ bench to disclose that he had complied with the earlier courtroom path to pay in GBP 10,000 per 30 days in direction of the fines.
“I am in prison on remand and remain un-convicted. I am here because of an extradition request from the Indian government,” Nirav told the court, when asked for the reason behind his continued imprisonment.
Questioned if he was aware of a timeframe for the extradition proceedings to be completed, he responded “unfortunately not”.
“To make clear, I used to be arrested in mid-March for extradition. Some proceedings are nonetheless occurring which cease my extradition to India… It could be very doubtless I might be in England for a very long time, could possibly be three months, six months, could possibly be years,” he stated, because the courtroom deliberated upon the size of adjournment.
Taking word of the uncertainty, the case associated to the unpaid fines was adjourned to February 8, 2024, when Nirav would once more be anticipated to look by way of video hyperlink from jail.
Meanwhile, the excellent fines stability was confirmed as GBP 70,247, which the diamantaire stated he intends to hold on paying in direction of to “reduce the balance” so as “not to be in contempt of court”.
At an earlier listening to listed for a similar courtroom in September it emerged that Nirav had been transferred out of HMP (His Majesty’s Prison) Wandsworth, one of many UK’s largest and most overcrowded prisons, to the privately-run HMP Thameside in south-east London.
The information of the switch got here days after a serious manhunt was launched after a terrorist suspect escaped Wandsworth jail in south-west London. The escape had raised severe questions round alleged understaffing and overcrowding at Wandsworth, the place Nirav had been lodged since his arrest on an extradition warrant in March 2019.
Last yr, Nirav misplaced his authorized battle within the highest UK courtroom towards being extradited to India within the estimated USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) mortgage rip-off case. But his case is now stated to be “statute barred”, indicating additional pending litigation which could possibly be linked to a confidential asylum software.
At the final procedural listening to in March this yr, Barkingside Magistrates’ Court had granted his plea to be allowed to pay GBP 10,000 a month utilizing borrowed funds after he informed the courtroom of his monetary hardships resulting from his property being frozen in India. This week’s listening to was scheduled as a evaluate of that earlier order.
In December final yr, a two-judge bench within the Royal Courts of Justice in London had refused Nirav’s software for permission to enchantment to the Supreme Court on suicide danger grounds and in addition refused his software to certify a degree of regulation, which concluded his extradition enchantment choices within the UK courts.
Nirav was arrested on March 19, 2019, on an extradition warrant primarily based on Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) prices towards the businessman.
There are three units of felony proceedings towards the diamantaire in India – the CBI case of fraud on the PNB which induced losses equal to over GBP 700 million, the ED case referring to the alleged laundering of the proceeds of that fraud and a 3rd set of felony proceedings involving alleged interference with proof and witnesses within the CBI proceedings.
Then UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel, had ordered Nirav’s extradition primarily based on Judge Sam Goozee’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court ruling in April 2021.
The 52-year-old former billionaire appeared for a listening to at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court in east London by way of video hyperlink from Thameside jail in relation authorized prices, or fines, amounting to GBP 150,247.00, accrued over his failed extradition enchantment proceedings within the London High Court.
Dressed in a pink prison-issue outfit and sporting a moustache, a plump and bald Nirav addressed the three-member magistrates’ bench to disclose that he had complied with the earlier courtroom path to pay in GBP 10,000 per 30 days in direction of the fines.
“I am in prison on remand and remain un-convicted. I am here because of an extradition request from the Indian government,” Nirav told the court, when asked for the reason behind his continued imprisonment.
Questioned if he was aware of a timeframe for the extradition proceedings to be completed, he responded “unfortunately not”.
“To make clear, I used to be arrested in mid-March for extradition. Some proceedings are nonetheless occurring which cease my extradition to India… It could be very doubtless I might be in England for a very long time, could possibly be three months, six months, could possibly be years,” he stated, because the courtroom deliberated upon the size of adjournment.
Taking word of the uncertainty, the case associated to the unpaid fines was adjourned to February 8, 2024, when Nirav would once more be anticipated to look by way of video hyperlink from jail.
Meanwhile, the excellent fines stability was confirmed as GBP 70,247, which the diamantaire stated he intends to hold on paying in direction of to “reduce the balance” so as “not to be in contempt of court”.
At an earlier listening to listed for a similar courtroom in September it emerged that Nirav had been transferred out of HMP (His Majesty’s Prison) Wandsworth, one of many UK’s largest and most overcrowded prisons, to the privately-run HMP Thameside in south-east London.
The information of the switch got here days after a serious manhunt was launched after a terrorist suspect escaped Wandsworth jail in south-west London. The escape had raised severe questions round alleged understaffing and overcrowding at Wandsworth, the place Nirav had been lodged since his arrest on an extradition warrant in March 2019.
Last yr, Nirav misplaced his authorized battle within the highest UK courtroom towards being extradited to India within the estimated USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) mortgage rip-off case. But his case is now stated to be “statute barred”, indicating additional pending litigation which could possibly be linked to a confidential asylum software.
At the final procedural listening to in March this yr, Barkingside Magistrates’ Court had granted his plea to be allowed to pay GBP 10,000 a month utilizing borrowed funds after he informed the courtroom of his monetary hardships resulting from his property being frozen in India. This week’s listening to was scheduled as a evaluate of that earlier order.
In December final yr, a two-judge bench within the Royal Courts of Justice in London had refused Nirav’s software for permission to enchantment to the Supreme Court on suicide danger grounds and in addition refused his software to certify a degree of regulation, which concluded his extradition enchantment choices within the UK courts.
Nirav was arrested on March 19, 2019, on an extradition warrant primarily based on Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) prices towards the businessman.
There are three units of felony proceedings towards the diamantaire in India – the CBI case of fraud on the PNB which induced losses equal to over GBP 700 million, the ED case referring to the alleged laundering of the proceeds of that fraud and a 3rd set of felony proceedings involving alleged interference with proof and witnesses within the CBI proceedings.
Then UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel, had ordered Nirav’s extradition primarily based on Judge Sam Goozee’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court ruling in April 2021.