Nirav has a case to answer in India, rules UK court
NEW DELHI: A UK court on Thursday cleared the extradition of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi to India, finding him guilty of fraud and money laundering in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam and dismissing his claims that he won’t get a fair trial at home.
The decision was perceived as a major victory for the Indian government and investigation agencies – Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) – which provided detailed evidence against the billionaire diamond merchant who fled India in January 2018 after siphoning off around Rs 6,500 crore. Modi allegedly obtained the amount through fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (Lous) in the name of several of his companies.
Asserting that Modi has a
case to answer, Judge Sam Goozee of the Westminster Magistrates’ Court said that he, along with his brother Nehal Modi and others, had defrauded the public sector bank, laundered the money taken from it and conspired to destroy evidence and intimidate witnesses.
“The judge has decided to send the case to the [UK] Home Secretary [Priti Patel] to decide whether to order his extradition to India,” said a spokesperson for the British high commission in New Delhi.
Patel has two months to decide whether to order the extradition. Modi can approach the UK high court to appeal against his extradition, though such an appeal won’t be heard until after the UK home secretary’s decision.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava told a regular news briefing that the UK judge had observed