Niirav Modi is topic to 2 units of legal proceedings
London:
Nirav Modi’s psychological well being and the jail circumstances in India had been as soon as once more in focus through the fugitive diamond product owner’s extradition listening to associated to the Punjab Nationwide Financial institution (PNB) rip-off case at a court docket within the UK on Wednesday.
The third day of the five-day listening to at Westminster Magistrates’ Court docket, presided over by Justice Samuel Goozee, was dedicated to the defence laying out additional arguments in opposition to a prima facie case of fraud and money-laundering in opposition to Mr Modi, who noticed the court docket proceedings by way of videoconference from Wandsworth Jail in London.
The 49-year-old jeweller appeared notably inanimate by means of most a part of the day, with the decide at one level pausing the listening to to verify if the video hyperlink had frozen and requested Mr Modi to maintain shifting sometimes so the court docket may be positive he’s nonetheless linked to the proceedings.
Mr Modi’s defence group, led by barrister Clare Montgomery, raised additional points across the circumstances at Barrack 12 at Arthur Highway Jail in Mumbai, the place he’s to be lodged on being extradited, claiming it’s coated in its entirety in a blue metallic cowl because it housed a terrorist in 2007. This makes the barrack “extremely scorching”, with different issues corresponding to damp, mud, bugs and rodents, she quoted testimony as saying.
In addition to fears associated to a COVID-19 outbreak earlier within the 12 months, references had been additionally made to a medical knowledgeable’s “addendum report” which highlighted “way more critical” issues round Mr Modi’s psychological well being.
UK-based prisons knowledgeable Dr Alan Mitchell, who has beforehand given witness statements within the extradition case of former Kingfisher Airways boss Vijay Mallya, and the medical knowledgeable are amongst a set of defence witnesses scheduled to present stay proof in court docket over these points later this week.
They are going to be cross-examined by Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) barrister Helen Malcolm, who’s arguing on behalf of the Indian authorities.
Throughout Wednesday’s listening to, Mr Modi’s defence group additionally claimed their consumer had been the topic of a “trial by media” and wouldn’t obtain a good trial in India. After the decide had turned down a defence request earlier this week to permit retired Indian excessive court docket decide Abhay Thipsay to present his video hyperlink knowledgeable assertion privately, his written assertion was briefly offered in court docket to spotlight assertions in opposition to the admissibility of sure proof offered by the Indian authorities.
Mr Thipsay’s testimony questions whether or not the statements offered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) meet the “statutory necessities” underneath Indian legislation and raises doubts over whether or not sure alleged actions, such because the destruction of cellphones, “quantity to disappearance of proof”.
Mr Modi is topic to 2 units of legal proceedings, the primary introduced by the CBI regarding a large-scale fraud mentioned to have been dedicated upon PNB and the ED case, regarding the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud. An additional extradition request was made in February this 12 months of two further offences of the disappearance of proof and intimidating a witness.
