Nirav spotted in London, UK court to hear extradition plea
LONDON: The long-drawn-out extradition process of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, who has been in London for nearly a year after leaving India, where he is accused of defrauding Punjab National Bank to the tune of ₹13,500 crore, is set to begin in British courts after home secretary Sajid Javid certified India’s request.
Javid certified India’s request for the start of extradition proceedings on Thursday. The certification, the first stage of the extradition process , has been sent to the Westminster Magistrates Court, officials involved in the process said on Saturday. If the court is satisfied that enough information has been provided to justify it, an arrest warrant will be issued against Modi.
The court must be satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the conduct described in the request is an extradition offence, which includes the requirement for dual criminality. Modi will then be arrested by Scotland Yard and produced in court and bailed, triggering the extradition hearings.
In the case of businessman Vijay Mallya, whose extradition case is now in the appeals court, India sent the request at end-2016 (he arrived in London on March 2, 2016); it was certified by the home secretary on February 21, 2017. Mallya was arrested and bailed nearly two months later on April 18, 2017, when his extradition hearings began.
The Daily Telegraph on Saturday released a video showing a different-looking Modi on the streets of London, where he has had a diamond store since 2014, when his company – Nirav Modi Limited – was registered with the Registrar of Companies.
To persistent queries from a reporter for the daily in the video, Modi responded with “no comment.”
The response was most likely under legal advice. Modi has reportedly started a new diamond business and has been living in a high-end central London apartment block called Centre Point.In the video posted by the newspaper, Modi can be seen sporting a handlebar moustache and wearing an Ostrich Hide jacket, estimated to cost 10,000 pounds.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY RELEASED A VIDEO SHOWING A DIFFERENT-LOOKING NIRAV MODI ON THE STREETS OF LONDON
The Daily Telegraph reported: “Modi appears to have adopted a surprisingly nonchalant attitude to his fugitive status, walking his small dog each day between his apartment and the diamond company’s office in a townhouse in Soho, just a few hundred yards from his Centre Point home”.
Describing Modi as a “billionaire diamond tycoon who is India’s most wanted”, the report quoted unnamed government officials as saying that Modi had been given a national insurance number, which is required to work legally in the UK. He has also been operating bank accounts online, the report added.
Modi, who is wanted in India in connection with a financial scam at Punjab National Bank, along with his uncle Mehul Choksi, continues to figure in Interpol’s wanted list on its website. Choksi, who fled to Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean, has given up his citizenship of India and surrendered his passport, HT reported on January 21.
British officials said that as a matter of longstanding policy
IN NEW DELHI, THE GOVERNMENT SAID IT WAS TAKING ALL STEPS TO EXTRADITE MODI
and practice, the UK will neither confirm nor deny that an extradition request has been made or received until an arrest has been made in relation to the request.
In New Delhi, the government said it was taking all steps to extradite Modi.
The fact that “we requested the UK government for extradition of Nirav Modi means that we were aware that he is in UK; otherwise we would not have made the request,” ministry of external affairs spokesman Raveesh Kumar said.
“Just because he has been spotted doesn’t mean he can be immediately brought back to India as there is a process in place. We have made a request for extradition, it is for the UK government now to consider our request and respond to the demand of the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) and ED (Enforcement Directorate) for extradition,” he said.