Billionaire diamond dealer is unfit for trial, lawyer claims

INDIA’S most wanted man, who was tracked down by The Daily Telegraph to a London flat, is “in the grip of a powerfully disabling illness” and unfit to stand trial, his lawyer has claimed.

Nirav Modi, 49, is accused of swindling £1.5 billion from a national bank but may “not ever stand trial” in India because he is depressed, a court heard.

The billionaire diamond dealer, whose jewellery was worn by the likes of Rosie Huntington-whiteley, the model, and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, an actress, fled to the UK after allegedly taking part in the country’s biggestever fraud on the state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB).

One of India’s richest men, Mr Modi was arrested in March last year after The Telegraph traced him to an address occupying half a floor in Centre Point tower, where rent is estimated to cost £17,000 a month, and to an office around the corner in Soho Square.

Wearing a grey and blue striped jumper, Modi – worth $ 1.73 billion according to Forbes – followed his latest hearing at Westminster magistrates’ court from a prison video-link room.

Clare Montgomery, QC, defending, said Modi has suffered a “significant decline” and should be bailed to stay at the north London Priory hospital ahead of the extradition judgement.

Ms Montgomery said: “The reality is, he is presently in the grip of a powerfully disabling illness, which has led to a significant deterioration in his capacity. Unless he receives treatment there is likely to be a deterioration… He is at the point of becoming so incapacitated he will not ever stand trial.

She said there was a family history of depression and “it is very, very hard to fake, it is an instinctive reaction”.

“An apparently charismatic and successful businessman travelling the world and having a capacity to escape, to this man. The contrast could not be more stark,” added Ms Montgomery.

Helen Malcolm QC, for the Indian government, said: “We’ve had no evidence served from Wandsworth about his mental state.”

District Judge Sam Goozee, who is writing his judgment after the five-day extradition hearing last month, denied Mr Modi’s request.

“He was in London in February 2018, however, the government of India’s case is, he was fleeing India as the fraud was unravelling. There have been unsuccessful attempts for citizenship in other countries by Mr Modi.

“Mr Modi has accessed substantial sums of money… there is $356 million unaccounted for in terms of proceeds of the fraud. I have substantial grounds to believe he would interfere with witnesses and fail to surrender.

“[The Priory] is not secure and even with GPS tagging there would present an ability for him to readily abscond, disappear and evade the proceedings.

“Should his mental health require hospitalisation the prison are under duty to transfer him to hospital.”

If Mr Modi is extradited he will face trial in India for conspiracy to defraud and interfering with witnesses.

Mr Modi was remanded in custody until Nov 3.

‘An apparently charismatic and successful businessman, to this. The contrast could not be more stark’