Nirav Modi, who is lodged in the Wandsworth jail since his arrest in March last year, has been refused bail four times in the Westminster Magistrates Court and the high court.
LONDON – Fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi was on Tuesday again remanded to prison as British authorities confirmed that his extradition trial will begin as scheduled on May 11, unlike that of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, whose hearing has reportedly been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Modi, 49, who is wanted in India to face charges of major financial offences, including fraud, faces India’s second extradition request made recently on the basis of two new charges relating to ‘causing disappearance of evidence’ and intimidating witnesses.
Assange is facing extradition to the United States to face charges of leading classified information.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed that Modi’s five-day trial would begin on May 11. Modi, who is lodged in the Wandsworth jail since his arrest in March last year, has been refused bail four times in the Westminster Magistrates Court and the high court.
The second extradition request was certified by home secretary Priti Patel on February 20, the CPS said, adding that the two new charges are part of the case brought by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the multi-crore fraud case,
Modi is the subject of two sets of criminal proceedings, the first brought by CBI, and the second by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The CBI case relates to the fraud upon PNB, through the fraudulent obtaining of Letters of Understanding; the ED case relates to the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud.
On the two new charges, CPS said: “The Government of India has issued this further extradition request…Put shortly, those offences relate to allegations that NDM (Nirav Deepak Modi) has interfered with the CBI investigation by ‘causing disappearance of evidence’ and intimidating witnesses (‘criminal intimidation to cause death’)”.
It added that the hearing scheduled from May 11 will go ahead, but the two additional offences part of the CBI case will be dealt with at a separate later hearing, probably in July.
