London: Nirav Modi, wanted in connection with the estimated USD 2-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case, was further remanded in custody on Tuesday by a court in London hearing India’s extradition request for the diamond merchant.
The 49-year-old appeared on Tuesday via videolink from Wandsworth Prison in south-west London, dressed in a maroon sweater and sporting a full beard, for his regular 28-day call-over hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, where Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot extended his remand for another 28 days until December 29.
“It will be another short videolink call-over hearing and then there is just over a week before closing submissions in the case,” she told Modi, who spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth.
The final hearings in the extradition case are scheduled over two days, on January 7 and 8 next year, when District Judge Samuel Goozee is scheduled to hear closing arguments from both sides before he hands down his judgment a few weeks later.
At the last hearing in the case on November 3, Judge Goozee heard the arguments for and against the admissibility of certain witness statements provided by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) and ruled that the evidence to establish a prima facie case of fraud and money laundering against the fugitive diamantaire is broadly admissible.
He concluded that he considered himself bound by the previous UK court rulings in the extradition case of former Kingfisher Airlines chief Vijay Mallya.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), arguing on behalf of the Indian authorities, had stressed that the evidence, including witness statements under Section 161 of the Indian Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), meets the required threshold for the UK court to determine whether Modi has a case to answer before the Indian judicial system.