The 52- time-old former billionaire appeared for a hail at Barkingside Adjudicators ’ Court in east London via videotape link from Thameside captivity Nirav Modi, the fugitive diamond trafficker wanted in India to stand trial on fraud and plutocrat laundering charges, told a UK court on Thursday that he could be in England for times as some ongoing proceedings help his repatriation.
The 52- time-old former billionaire appeared for a hail at Barkingside Adjudicators ’ Court in east London via videotape link from Thameside captivity in relation legal costs, or forfeitures, amounting to GBP 150,247.00, accrued over his failed repatriation appeal proceedings in the London High Court.
Dressed in a pink captivity- issue outfit and sporting a moustache, a rotund and bald Nirav addressed the three- member adjudicators ’ bench to reveal that he’d complied with the former court direction to pay in GBP 10,000 per month towards the forfeitures.
“I’m detained on remand and haven’t been found guilty. I’m then because of an repatriation request from the Indian government, ”Nirav Modi told the court, when asked for the reason behind his uninterrupted imprisonment.
Questioned if he was apprehensive of a timeframe for the repatriation proceedings to be completed, he responded “unfortunately not”.
“To explain, I was detained in mid-March for repatriation. Some proceedings are still going on which stop my repatriation to India It’s veritably likely I’ll be in England for a long time, could be three months, six months, could be times, ”he said, as the court meditated upon the length of adjournment.
Taking note of the query, the case related to the overdue forfeitures was suspended to February 8, 2024, when Nirav Modi would again be anticipated to appear via videotape link from captivity.
Meanwhile, the outstanding forfeitures balance was verified as GBP 70,247, which the diamantaire said he intends to carry on paying towards to “reduce the balance” so as” not to be in disdain of court”.
At an earlier hail listed for the same court in September it surfaced that Nirav Modi had been transferred out of HMP (His Majesty’s Captivity) Wandsworth, one of the UK’s largest and most overcrowded incarcerations, to the intimately- run HMP Thameside in south- east London.
The news of the transfer came days after a major manhunt was launched after a terrorist suspect escaped Wandsworth captivity in south- west London. The escape had raised serious questions around contended understaffing and overcrowding at Wandsworth, where Nirav Modi had been lodged since his arrest on an repatriation leave in March 2019.
Last time, Nirav Modi lost his legal battle in the loftiest UK court against being extradited to India in the estimated USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan fiddle case. But his case is now said to be “enactment barred ”, indicating further pending action which could be linked to a nonpublic shelter operation. At the last procedural hail in March this time, Barkingside Adjudicators ’ Court had granted his plea to be allowed to pay GBP 10,000 a month using espoused finances after he told the court of his fiscal rigors due to his means being firmed in India. This week’s hail was listed as a review of that former order.
In December last time, a two- judge bench in the Royal Courts of Justice in London had refused Nirav’s operation for authorization to appeal to the Supreme Court on self-murder threat grounds and also refused his operation to certify a point of law, which concluded his repatriation appeal options in the UK courts. Nirav Modi was arrested on March 19, 2019, on an repatriation leave grounded on Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate ED) charges against the businessman.
There are three sets of felonious proceedings against the diamantaire in India – the CBI case of fraud on the PNB which caused losses original to over GBP 700 million, the ED case relating to the contended laundering of the proceeds of that fraud and a third set of felonious proceedings involving alleged hindrance with substantiation and substantiations in the CBI proceedings.