Nirav Modi loses first stage of appeal against extradition to India

FUGITIVE businessman Nirav Modi on Tuesday (22) lost his appeal against extradition to India in a UK High Court.

On April 15, UK Home Secretary Priti Patel approved Modi’s extradition to India in the estimated $2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case.

In February, the Westminster Magistrates’ Court in the UK had ordered that the fugitive diamond merchant can be extradited to India to face trial.

Modi was arrested on March 19, 2019, and has been lodged in London’s Wandsworth jail.

Modi had approached the High Court to determine if there are any grounds for appeal against Patel’s decision or the Westminster Magistrates’ Court order. However, the UK High Court dismissed the appeal on paper, reported the PTI.

According to the report, Modi has only five business days to apply for the oral hearing, giving him time until next week.

If the oral submission is rejected, he will have no legal remedies left in the UK. The fugitive businessman, however, can still approach the European Human Rights court, media reports said.

In his February ruling, District Judge Samuel Goozee had said he was satisfied that Modi’s extradition to India was in compliance with human rights. “There is no evidence that if extradited Nirav Modi will not get justice.”

The judge added that prima facie there was a money laundering case against him. “I am satisfied again that there is evidence he could be convicted,” he said.

Modi is facing two sets of criminal proceedings. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case relates to the large-scale fraud upon PNB through the fraudulent obtaining of “Letters of Undertaking”, while the Enforcement Directorate is investigating the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud.

He also faces two additional charges of “causing the disappearance of evidence” and intimidating witnesses or criminal intimidation to cause death added to the CBI case.

Throughout the proceedings of the case, Modi has denied the charges and opposed the efforts to extradite him from Britain to India. But his multiple attempts at seeking bail was repeatedly turned down as he was deemed a flight risk.