Nirav extradition case enters final stages in UK today

LONDON — The extradition case of fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, wanted in India on charges of fraud and money laundering, is expected to enter its final stages at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on Tuesday. The 49-year-old jeweller, fighting extradition in the estimated $2-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case, will appear via videolink from Wandsworth Prison in south-west London for the latest hearing in the case, during which District Judge Samuel Goozee will hear his defence team’s arguments against the admissibility of certain evidence provided by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) in order to establish a prima facie case against the accused.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), arguing on behalf of the Indian authorities, will stress that the evidence meets the required criteria for the UK court to determine whether Modi has a case to answer before the Indian judicial system.

The jeweller is the subject of two sets of criminal proceedings, with the CBI case relating to a large-scale fraud upon PNB through the fraudulent obtaining of ‘Letters of Understanding’ (LOUs or loan agreements), and the 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” added to the CBI case. —