Nirav Mod is fighting extradition charges related to PNB fraud case. (Proceedings)
London:
The legal team of fraud-accused jeweler Nirav Modi alleged on Tuesday that he is unlikely to get a fair trial in India due to the politicization of his case and that the diamond dealer faces a “high risk of suicide” due to the lack of of adequate medical facilities in Indian prisons.
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 Modi’s five-day extradition hearing, the court was informed of a “marked deterioration” in his 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 limited contact with the family, with only 25 minutes allowed outside her 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, “said Nirav Modi’s attorney, Clare Montgomery.
He claimed that the availability of psychiatric help in prisons in India was “absolutely inadequate”.
“Laconic security [of the government in 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 furthermore the imminent threat of COVID, “Ms. Montgomery said.
During the hearing, Judge Samuel Goozee examined official data from Indian prisons, including statistics on coronavirus cases at Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai, where Nirav Modi will be detained if extradited.
Ms. Montgomery also laid out her plans to depose more expert witnesses during the course of the week, including a former Supreme Court judge who is referred to only by his last name Katju.
The Nirav Modi case has become a “political matter, without 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.
Nirav Modi’s legal team also indicated plans to depose 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 within the Arthur Road jail does not add up,” Ms. Montgomery told the judge.
The defense arguments follow the opening of 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 Nirav Modi.
CPS attorney Helen Malcolm took Judge Goozee through detailed statements from witnesses 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 Modi. .
He laid out the details of how, as the details of the fraud began to emerge, the jeweler began by concealing most of the evidence, particularly the originals of PNB’s “letters of commitment” (LoU), and then went on to “threaten, intimidate, cajole and bribe officials. “
“He destroyed the phones of the fictitious directors and threatened to kill one of the witnesses,” Malcolm told the court.
Nirav Modi, dressed in a dark suit and white shirt, has been observing court proceedings remotely from a room in Wandsworth prison and referring to packages of documents presented to 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 offenses related to allegations that Nirav Modi interfered in the IWC investigation by causing the disappearance of evidence and intimidate a witness.
The CPS must establish a prima facie case against Nirav Modi 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 Nirav Modi, 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 Modi 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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