Nirav Modi extradition enchantment to be heard in UK High Court on June 28

The continuation enchantment listening to within the extradition case of Nirav Modi, the fugitive diamond service provider needed in India to face prices of fraud and cash laundering amounting to an estimated USD 2-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) rip-off case, is listed to be heard within the High Court in London on June 28.

The 51-year-old diamond service provider had lodged an enchantment towards his extradition order on psychological well being grounds.

The listening to is listed for the twenty eighth June, confirmed the Royal Courts of Justice administrative workplace final week.

Lord Justice Jeremy Stuart-Smith and Justice Robert Jay presided over an preliminary listening to on the court docket in December final 12 months to find out whether or not District Judge Sam Goozee’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court ruling from February 2021 in favour of extradition was incorrect to miss the diamond product owner’s excessive danger of suicide.

The listening to subsequent month is for the continuation of that enchantment.

According to officers aware of the case, the Indian authorities has given assurances in regards to the circumstances wherein Modi shall be detained if surrendered to India and the services that shall be out there to take care of his bodily and psychological well being.

At the June listening to, either side shall be making submissions on whether or not these assurances are adequate and might be relied upon.

He is at excessive danger of suicide already and his situation is prone to deteriorate additional in Mumbai, Edward Fitzgerald QC had argued on behalf of Modi throughout the December enchantment listening to.

Modi, in the meantime, stays behind bars at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest in March 2019.

The High Court hearings observe a ruling in August final 12 months by High Court Justice Martin Chamberlain that arguments regarding the jeweller’s extreme despair and excessive danger of suicide had been controversial at a full enchantment listening to.

The enchantment towards Judge Goozee’s ruling to ship the case to UK Home Secretary Priti Patel for extradition was granted depart to enchantment within the High Court on two grounds below Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) to listen to arguments if it will unjust or oppressive to extradite Modi resulting from his psychological state and Section 91 of the Extradition Act 2003, additionally associated to psychological unwell well being.

Modi’s excessive danger of suicide and the adequacy of any measures able to stopping profitable suicide makes an attempt in Arthur Road jail had been deemed because the focal factors for the enchantment.

The permission to enchantment was denied on all different grounds, together with the admissibility of proof supplied by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Patel’s extradition log off.

The High Court additionally famous that the District Judge’s method to the identification of a prima facie case within the PNB fraud case was appropriate.

Modi’s authorized group has sought to determine that it will be oppressive to extradite him resulting from his psychological situation that might result in suicidal impulses, given the household historical past of suicide of his mom, and that he’s prone to flagrant denial of justice in India.

The attorneys have additionally claimed the COVID-19 pandemic is overwhelming the Indian jail system.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), arguing on behalf of India, has highlighted the excessive stage of diplomatic assurance to offer sufficient medical consideration to the accused on being extradited to face trial in India.

Modi is the topic of two units of prison proceedings, with the CBI case regarding a large-scale fraud upon PNB by means of the fraudulent acquiring of letters of endeavor (LoUs) or mortgage agreements, and the ED case regarding the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud.

He additionally faces two further prices of “causing the disappearance of evidence” and intimidating witnesses or prison intimidation to trigger demise, which had been added to the CBI case.

If Modi wins this enchantment listening to within the High Court, he can’t be extradited except the Indian authorities is profitable in getting permission to enchantment on the Supreme Court on a degree of regulation of public significance.

On the flip facet, if he loses this enchantment listening to, Modi can method the Supreme Court on a degree of regulation of public significance, to be utilized for to the Supreme Court towards the High Court’s resolution inside 14 days of a High Court verdict. However, this includes a excessive threshold as appeals to the Supreme Court can solely be made if the High Court has licensed that the case includes a degree of regulation of normal public significance.

Finally, after all of the avenues within the UK courts are exhausted, the diamantaire may nonetheless search a so-called Rule 39 injunction from the European Court of Human Rights.