Nirav Modi was arrested on March 19, 2019, on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard.
London:
Fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi’s extradition case related to the estimated USD 2-billion Punjab Nationwide Monetary establishment (PNB) fraud and money laundering bills launched by the Indian authorities opened for a five-day listening to in a UK courtroom on Monday.
The 49-year-old jeweller, who has been behind bars in a London jail since his arrest in March last 12 months, appeared by a video hyperlink carrying a darkish swimsuit and sporting beard as a result of the second leg of the trial obtained underway at Westminster Magistrates’ Courtroom.
Representatives from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have been in courtroom and logged into the distant courtroom group to observe the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) present their case sooner than District Determine Samuel Goozee.
The hearings this week are ear-marked to complete these arguments after the Indian authorities had submitted additional “corroboratory proof”.
It might then go on to maintain the additional extradition request, made by the Indian authorities and approved by UK Home Secretary Priti Patel earlier this 12 months, which add on the charges of “inflicting the disappearance of proof” and intimidating witnesses or “authorized intimidation to set off demise” in opposition to Nirav Modi.
In step with the coronavirus lockdown restrictions, Determine Goozee had directed Nirav Modi’s look from a room in Wandsworth Jail in south-west London with social distancing norms in place for the part-remote setting of the hearings.
Justice Goozee had presided over the first leg of the extradition in Might, all through which the sought to establish a prima facie case of fraud and money laundering in opposition to Nirav Modi.
Goozee has already said that the completely totally different extradition requests are inextricably linked, and he would subsequently be handing down his judgment on the end of listening to all the arguments.
Additional hearings scheduled for November 3, for the determine to rule on the admissibility of the proof that shall be provided sooner than him, and December 1, when both facet will make their final submissions, suggest his ruling on whether or not or not Nirav Modi has a case to answer sooner than the Indian courts is anticipated solely after the final word listening to in December.
The prices in opposition to the diamond service supplier centre spherical his firms Diamonds R Us, Picture voltaic Exports and Stellar Diamonds making fraudulent use of a credit score rating facility equipped by the PNB, known as “letters of endeavor” (LoUs).
The, exhibiting on behalf of India, has instructed the courtroom that varied PNB employees conspired with Nirav Modi to ensure LoUs have been issued to his firms with out guaranteeing they’ve been matter to the required credit score rating look at, with out recording the issuance of the LoUs and with out charging the required charge upon the transactions.
Nirav Modi’s workforce has sought to counter allegations of fraud by deposing witnesses to establish the volatility of the gems commerce and that the LoUs have been a typical apply.
Nirav Modi has made repeated makes an try at bail over the earlier 12 months, each of which have been turned down as he is deemed a flight hazard.
The jeweller was arrested on March 19, 2019, on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard.
At a case administration listening to ahead of the trial last month, Nirav Modi’s barrister Clare Montgomery instructed the determine that she is also searching for a partial reporting ban on the proceedings following allegations of “get collectively political bias” in opposition to actually one among their expert witnesses from India – Retired Indian Extreme Courtroom determine Abhay Thipsay.
“We would ought to put in an software program for reporting restrictions throughout the reporting of his (Thipsay) proof to steer clear of extra public commentary on it,” she said.
From the approved paperwork submitted, jail conditions in India will as quickly as as soon as extra play a severe half on this extradition case, as so far with totally different Indian extradition circumstances, with Nirav Modi’s excessive psychological properly being state of affairs being a component to be raised behind closed doorways.
