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Fugitive Diamantaire Nirav Modi’s five-day extradition trial to face major financial crime charges in India will begin Monday in Westminster Magistrates Court, and New Delhi will make a second extradition request in February.
Modi, 49, is now the subject of two extradition requests; one processed by the Central Investigation Office (CBI) and the other by the Execution Directorate (ED). Housed in Wandsworth Prison since his arrest in March 2019, he was denied bail five times.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which represents India in UK courts, said Modi is likely to participate in the video-link extradition trial. The charges against Modi involve a Mumbai branch of the National Bank of Punjab (PNB) that extended loans to his companies worth more than Rs 11.3 billion.
Modi is the subject of two sets of criminal proceedings. The CBI case relates to large-scale fraud against PNB, through fraudulently obtaining Letters of Understanding (LOU / loan agreements); The ED case is related to laundering the proceeds of that fraud.
The second extradition request was made on the basis of two additional crimes as part of the CBI case. It was certified by Home Secretary Priti Patel on February 20, as required by the 1993 India-UK extradition treaty.
The additional crimes relate to allegations that Modi interfered with the CBI investigation by “causing evidence to disappear” and intimidating witnesses (“criminal intimidation to cause death”). They have not joined the CBI case, but will be dealt with at a later hearing, likely in July, CPS said.
Despite offering to increase bail security to £ 4m, UK courts rejected Modi’s bail on the grounds that he posed a risk of flight and had the means to influence witnesses and manipulate evidence.
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