The 49-year-old diamond merchant fugitive is fighting extradition charges related to the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case estimated at $ 2 billion brought by the Indian government in Westminster Magistrates Court in London.
On the second day of Nirav’s five-day extradition hearing in court, Judge Samuel Goozee examined official data from Indian prisons, including statistics on coronavirus cases at the Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai, where Modi will be staying. detained if extradited.
Nirav’s attorney, Clare Montgomery, also laid out her plans to depose more expert witnesses over the course of the week, including a former Supreme Court judge referred to only by his Katju last name.
“There has been a significant decline in the integrity of the judicial system in India … and the Nirav Modi Case it has become a political problem, with no presumption of innocence, “Montgomery told the court.
He claimed that because the jeweler had become a “hate figure” in India, there was an “overwhelming political need” to condemn him and see him condemned.
He added that other defense witnesses also highlight a decrease in the “standards of behavior” of the investigative agencies, the Central Investigation Office (CBI) and the Directorate of Enforcement (ED).
The court was informed of a “marked deterioration” in Nirav’s mental health at Wandsworth Prison in southwest London, where tighter coronavirus restrictions have meant a lack of access to in-house counseling facilities and very close contact. limited with family, with only 25 minutes allowed outside his cell in July.
“He has increasingly suffered from severe depression and the latest assessment shows that he is on the verge of being hospitalized unless he is given proper treatment … and his ability to declare may be in doubt here or in the requesting state (India ) given a high risk of suicide, ”Montgomery said, adding that the availability of psychiatric help in Indian jails was” absolutely inadequate. ”
“Laconic security [of the government of India] and the video from the prison saying that he will be kept in humane conditions appears to be completely inappropriate when considering his psychiatric condition and also the imminent threat of COVID, “he said.
Nirav’s legal team also indicated plans to remove a tropical medicine expert in an attempt to counter government claims that the COVID-19 outbreak reported at the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai in May had been brought under control.
“What is being claimed is unlikely and the management of COVID-19 inside the Arthur Road jail does not add up,” Montgomery told the judge.
The defense arguments follow that the Crown Prosecutor’s Office (CPS) opened the second part of the extradition trial on Monday on behalf of the Indian authorities, which focused on establishing a prima facie case of fraud and money laundering against Modi .
CPS attorney Helen Malcolm led Judge Goozee through detailed witness statements from so-called “false directors,” including Ashish Lad, who recorded a video in June 2018 to say that her life had been threatened by Nirav.
He laid out details of how, as the details of the fraud began to emerge, the jeweler began by concealing most of the evidence, particularly the original PNB “letters of commitment” (LoU), and then went on to “threaten, intimidate , cajole and bribe officials ”.
“He destroyed fake directors’ phones and threatened to kill one of the witnesses,” Malcolm told the court.
Nirav, dressed in a dark suit and white shirt, has been observing court proceedings remotely from a room in Wandsworth prison and referring to the packages of documents before him from time to time.
It is subject to two sets of criminal proceedings, the first initiated by the CBI in relation to a large-scale fraud allegedly committed against PNB and the ED case, related to the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud.
In February this year, a new extradition request was submitted, certified by the UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel, of two additional crimes related to allegations that Modi interfered with the IWC investigation by causing evidence to disappear. and intimidate a witness.
The CPS must establish a prima facie case against Nirav to allow the judge to rule that he has a case to answer before the Indian courts. If the judge finds a prima facie case against him, he will return to Patel to formally certify his extradition to India for trial.
A ruling in the case is expected later this year after a final hearing scheduled for December 1.
Nirav has made repeated bail attempts over the past year, each of which was rejected as a flight risk. The jeweler was arrested on March 19 last year with an extradition order executed by Scotland Yard.
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