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LONDON: Wanted diamantaire Nirav Modi’s appeal against extradition to India concluded in the high court here on Wednesday with judgment reserved. Lord Justice Stuart-Smith and Justice Jay said they were aware that Nirav — who remains in Wandsworth prison — has been ‘in limbo’ for a long time.
Helen Malcolm KC, representing the Indian government, outlined how Nirav’s medical records and medication would accompany him on his flight to India, and possibly a psychiatric nurse. Once in Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail, his family could visit him once a week, or more often, if approved, she said.
She questioned why his daughters, stepmother and son could not fly from New York to India to visit him there as they flew to London this summer. She said they are accused of no crime in India but conceded his wife and sister were wanted for money laundering. “They are an extremely wealthy family, there is a great deal of money somewhere still untraced by the government of India that the family at one stage had. They are used to the food and culture in India,” she said.
Nirav’s lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald KC, accused Indian ministers of making public statements ‘prejudging the case’ and of trying to link Nirav with the Congress party. “That is the world he is going back to and that is the world (in which) his family will have to go to visit him. You can imagine them being filmed going to see him in prison. His case is high-profile,” he said. He also said the allegations that Nirav committed a fraud of more than £1 billion (Rs 9,000 crore) against Punjab National Bank were ‘highly contested’.
Malcolm said remarks made by Ravi Shankar Prasad about the case when he was a Union minister were ‘unwise’, but she said there was no evidence the Indian government had ‘fermented’ it or that they had any involvement in burning of effigies of Nirav. She said overcrowding at the jail was irrelevant as Nirav would be in barrack 12, which was like “an oasis in the desert”.
“The Indians are well aware if they mistreat him or fail to abide by the assurances, it will affect all future cases,” she added.
Helen Malcolm KC, representing the Indian government, outlined how Nirav’s medical records and medication would accompany him on his flight to India, and possibly a psychiatric nurse. Once in Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail, his family could visit him once a week, or more often, if approved, she said.
She questioned why his daughters, stepmother and son could not fly from New York to India to visit him there as they flew to London this summer. She said they are accused of no crime in India but conceded his wife and sister were wanted for money laundering. “They are an extremely wealthy family, there is a great deal of money somewhere still untraced by the government of India that the family at one stage had. They are used to the food and culture in India,” she said.
Nirav’s lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald KC, accused Indian ministers of making public statements ‘prejudging the case’ and of trying to link Nirav with the Congress party. “That is the world he is going back to and that is the world (in which) his family will have to go to visit him. You can imagine them being filmed going to see him in prison. His case is high-profile,” he said. He also said the allegations that Nirav committed a fraud of more than £1 billion (Rs 9,000 crore) against Punjab National Bank were ‘highly contested’.
Malcolm said remarks made by Ravi Shankar Prasad about the case when he was a Union minister were ‘unwise’, but she said there was no evidence the Indian government had ‘fermented’ it or that they had any involvement in burning of effigies of Nirav. She said overcrowding at the jail was irrelevant as Nirav would be in barrack 12, which was like “an oasis in the desert”.
“The Indians are well aware if they mistreat him or fail to abide by the assurances, it will affect all future cases,” she added.
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