Upon the hearing of Nirav Modi’s case, the High Court of London on Wednesday rejected the plea of diamond merchant Nirav Modi who ran away to Europe after a fraud case and money laundering.
The court ordered the extradition of Nirav Modi to India after he fled to London to escape from the charges of fraud of an estimated USD 2 billion in the Punjab National Bank (PNB).
The verdict was declared by Lord Justice Jeremy Stuart-Smith and Justice Robert Jay, who oversaw the appeal earlier this year.
Modi remained at the Wandsworth Prison in south-east London. He was granted permission to plead against District Judge Sam Goozee
Westminster Magistrates’ Court ruling in favor of extradition earlier in February. He pleaded on the grounds of his mental fitness as he was 51 years old. The leave to appeal in the High Court was consented to on two grounds:
- Under Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) to hear arguments if it would be “unjust or oppressive” to deport Modi due to his mental state, and
- Section 91 of the Extradition Act 2003, is also related to mental ill health.
Some legal experts stated that Modi can still take the help of the Supreme Court of Britain after 14 days of the High Court’s verdict. His extradition can still get delayed if he appeals to the Supreme Court.
However, the appeal to the Supreme Court would be only possible if the High Court believes that this particular case has some general public importance. According to legal experts, Modi can also avail another option, that is, the European Commission of Human Rights if the approach to the Supreme Court fails.
Modi was charged in March 2019 and has been stuck in jail since then. He has been the subject of two sets of criminal proceedings. One with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case associated with a large-scale forgery upon Punjab National Bank through the deceitful obtaining of letters of undertaking (LoUs). The second is with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case relating to the laundering of the earnings of that fraud.
Why was Nirav Modi in prison?
He was booked in the alleged Rs 13,500-crore PNB fraud case in 2019. It was claimed that corporations regulated by him had benefited from the distribution of fraudulent letters of undertaking from the bank.
He faced two more charges of “causing the disappearance of evidence” and intimidating witnesses or “criminal intimidation to cause death”, which were summed up in the CBI case.
In June 2020, in the first order of takeover under the Fugitive Economic Offenders (FEO) Act, 2018, a special tribunal in India directed that Modi’s properties be secured by the ED. However, the court had exempted properties secured to PNB and a consortium of banks either through a mortgage or personal guarantee.
What is a Letter of Undertaking (LoU)?
An LoU is a bank assurance under which a bank authorizes its customer to raise money from another Indian bank’s foreign branch in the shape of short-term credit. The loan is used to make expenses to the consumer’s offshore suppliers in foreign cash. The overseas bank usually loans to the importer based on the LoU published by the importer’s bank.
Who is Nirav Modi?
Nirav Deepak Modi, 51, is an Indian businessman who was charged by the Government of India and Interpol for fraud and money laundering. In February 2018, CBI launched an investigation of Modi after a complaint by the Punjab National Bank. The bank alleged that he and his partners defrauded the bank of ₹28000 Crore (approximately US$4 billion) by plotting with bank officials to fraudulently acquire Letters of Undertaking for making payments to overseas suppliers.
