Today, wanted diamond merchant Nirav Modi will find out if he will be extradited back to India from the UK.
Nirav Modi is behind bars in Wandsworth Prison as he contests his extradition to India on charges of fraud and money laundering in the estimated $2-billion Punjab National Bank scam case.
The UK court’s ruling will come after nearly two-year-long legal battle.
Nirav Modi was arrested on an extradition warrant on March 2019 and the 49-year-old is expected to appear via video conferencing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
The magistrates’ court ruling will then be sent back to UK Home Secretary Priti Patel for a sign off.
In India, Nirav Modi is the subject of two sets of criminal proceedings.
One with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a case relating to a large-scale fraud upon PNB through the fraudulent obtaining of letters of undertaking (LoUs) or loan agreements.
The second is with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case relating to the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud.
Nirav Modi’s defence team led by barrister Clare Montgomery has argued around Modi’s deteriorating mental health condition.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), arguing on behalf of the Indian Government has challenged the defence’s stance and had called for an independent evaluation of medical records by a consultant psychiatrist.
