London: Nirav Modi, the fugitive diamond service provider wished in India to face trial on fraud and cash laundering costs, has claimed that he has no funds and is resorting to borrowing cash to pay the court-ordered authorized prices amounting to greater than 150,000 kilos. The 52-year-old former billionaire final yr misplaced his authorized battle within the highest UK court docket in opposition to being extradited to India within the estimated USD 2 billion Punjab Nationwide Financial institution (PNB) mortgage rip-off case. However his case is now stated to be ‘statute barred’, indicating additional pending litigation. In the meantime, Nirav stays behind bars at Wandsworth Jail in south-west London, from the place he appeared by way of videolink for a listening to at Barkingside Magistrates’ Courtroom in east London on Thursday over unpaid authorized prices, or fines, of 150,247 kilos ordered by the Excessive Courtroom in London, associated to his extradition enchantment proceedings.
In response to officers, the magistrates at a procedural listening to for court docket fines granted his plea to be allowed to pay 10,000 kilos a month earlier than a evaluation listening to to happen in six months. On being requested how he supposed to finance the month-to-month quantity, Nirav informed the court docket he had been borrowing cash as he didn’t have ample funds as a result of his belongings had been frozen in India over the extradition proceedings.
In December final yr, a two-judge bench within the Royal Courts of Justice in London refused Nirav Modi’s utility for permission to enchantment to the Supreme Courtroom on suicide threat grounds and in addition refused his utility to certify some extent of regulation, which concluded his extradition enchantment choices within the UK courts.
This case could also be topic to additional litigation, UK Dwelling Workplace sources have stated, which is prone to point out a parallel confidential political asylum appeals course of.
In a remaining extradition enchantment listening to within the case within the London Excessive Courtroom in November 2022, Justices Jeremy Stuart-Smith and Justice Robert Jay dominated that they have been “removed from glad that Mr Modi’s psychological situation and the chance of suicide are such that it might be both unjust or oppressive to extradite him”.
Their verdict additionally accepted that the federal government of India will deal with its assurances on Nirav’s medical care after being extradited and held at Barrack 12 of Arthur Highway Jail in Mumbai with ‘applicable seriousness’.
The dismissal of the enchantment got here three years after Nirav Modi was arrested in March 2019 on an extradition warrant based mostly on Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) costs in opposition to the businessman.
There are three units of felony proceedings in opposition to the diamantaire in India ‘the CBI case of fraud on the PNB which brought on losses equal to over 700 million kilos, the ED case regarding the alleged laundering of the proceeds of that fraud and a 3rd set of felony proceedings involving alleged interference with proof and witnesses within the CBI proceedings.
Then UK Dwelling Secretary, Priti Patel, had ordered Nirav’s extradition based mostly on Choose Sam Goozee’s Westminster Magistrates’ Courtroom ruling in April 2021.
