New Delhi: Wanted diamond merchant Nirav Modi on Thursday lost his fight against being extradited to India as a UK judge ruled that he can be sent back to face charges of fraud and money laundering in the estimated $2-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case.
The judge said that prima facie charges had been established against Modi, and he has a “case to answer for in India”.
The 49-year-old appeared via video link from Wandsworth Prison in south-west London as District Judge Samuel Goozee handed down his judgment at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London.
Modi was arrested on an extradition warrant on March 19, 2019, and has appeared via videolink from Wandsworth Prison for a series of court hearings in the extradition case. His multiple attempts at seeking bail have been repeatedly turned down, both at the Magistrates’ and High Court level, as he was deemed a flight risk.
He is the subject of two sets of criminal proceedings, with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case relating to a large-scale fraud upon PNB through the fraudulent obtaining of letters of undertaking (LoUs) or loan agreements, and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case relating to the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud.
He also faces two additional charges of “causing the disappearance of evidence” and intimidating witnesses or “criminal intimidation to cause death” which were added on to the CBI case.
Modi’s defence team, led by barrister Clare Montgomery, had claimed that the entire issue is a commercial dispute involving “authorised though ill-advised lending” that took place in “broad daylight”. It is also claimed that none of his actions meet the legal threshold of perverting the course of justice or amounted to fraud.
During a series of hearings in the course of the extradition case last year and early this year, Westminster Magistrates Court has also heard detailed arguments from both sides about why Modi’s “deteriorating” mental health condition does or does not meet the Section 91 threshold of the Extradition Act 2003 which was most recently been used in the UK to block the extradition of Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange on the grounds of it being “unjust and oppressive” as he is a high suicide risk.
Prison conditions at Barrack 12 in Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai, where Modi is to be held, have also been in focus as the Indian government submitted an updated video recording of the cell to highlight that it meets all human rights requirements of natural light and ventilation.
Modi’s legal battle marks one of a number of high-profile extradition cases involving accused Indian economic offenders in the UK. While former Kingfisher Airlines boss Vijay Mallya remains on bail as a “confidential” matter related to his extradition to India is resolved, accused arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari’s extradition case is scheduled for its next hearing in April.
In February 2020, wanted cricket bookie Sanjeev Chawla was extradited to face charges in India and became the first extradition of its kind under the India-UK Extradition Treaty, signed in 1992.
A previous extradition of Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel, wanted in connection with the Godhra riots in Gujarat, from the UK to India in October 2016 had been uncontested and therefore did not have to go through various levels of appeals in the UK courts.
(With PTI inputs)