UK Court To Rule On Nirav Modi’s Extradition In Bank Scam Case Tomorrow

London:

Diamond service provider Nirav Modi, who stays behind bars in a London jail as he contests his extradition to India on costs of fraud and cash laundering within the estimated USD 2-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) rip-off case, will discover out the UK court docket’s ruling within the practically two-year-long authorized battle on Thursday.

The 49-year-old is predicted to look by way of videolink from Wandsworth Prison in south-west London at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, the place District Judge Samuel Goozee is about at hand down his judgment on whether or not the jeweller has a case to reply earlier than the Indian courts.

The magistrates’ court docket ruling will then be despatched again to UK Home Secretary Priti Patel for an indication off, with the opportunity of appeals within the High Court on both facet relying on the result.

Modi was arrested on an extradition warrant on March 19, 2019, and has appeared by way of videolink from Wandsworth Prison for a collection of court docket hearings within the extradition case. His a number of makes an attempt at searching for bail have been repeatedly turned down, each on the Magistrates’ and High Court stage, as he was deemed a flight danger.

He is the topic of two units of legal proceedings, with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case referring to a large-scale fraud upon PNB by means of the fraudulent acquiring of letters of enterprise (LoUs) or mortgage agreements, and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case referring to the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud.

He additionally faces two extra costs of “causing the disappearance of evidence” and intimidating witnesses or “criminal intimidation to cause death”, which have been added on to the CBI case.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), arguing on behalf of the Indian authorities, has sought to ascertain a prima facie case towards him and likewise to ascertain that there are not any human rights points blocking his extradition to India. CPS barrister Helen Malcolm has argued that the jeweller presided over a “ponzi-like scheme where new LoUs were used to repay old ones”.