UK court okays Dawood aide’s extradition to US

LONDON: The Westminster magistrates court cleared on Thursday the extradition of Jabir Motiwala, a close aide of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, to the United States, where he faces charges of money-laundering, extortion and drug trafficking.

Dawood Ibrahim is wanted in India for his alleged role in the 1993 Mumbai bombings which claimed lives of more than 200 people.

Motiwala is accused of laundering around US $1.4 million. The charges against him date back to 2011 and 2012 and could carry a sentence of around 25 years behind bars in the US.

Pronouncing the judgment, Judge John Zani rejected grounds such as abuse of process and risk to human rights, saying that Motiwala’s extradition complied with human rights legislation. “I also find that there are no bars to this extradition as would intervene to prevent extradition,” he added.

The matter has now been referred to home secretary Priti Patel.

However, once Patel signs the extradition order, Motiwala is likley to seek permission to appeal in the high court of England and Wales.

According to the information set out in the (extradition) request, JM (Jabir Motiwala) is said to be an important member of an international criminal organisation called ‘D Company’, based in Pakistan, India and UAE .... ”the judge noted.

Motiwala, who appeared in court via a videolink from Wandsworth prison in southwest London, was arrested by Scotland Yard’s Extradition Unit in August 2018.

Motiwala’s defence team had raised the prospect of he being tried for terrorism offences, once he is extradited to the US, and noted that doing so would breach the condition of ‘specialty’ in the extradition laws, but Judge Zani ruled that he was satisfied with the assurances given by US authorities.