Nirav Modi to face 2nd extradition hearing on September 7 on charges of intimidating witnesses, destroying evidence

LONDON: A second extradition hearing will take place for jeweller Nirav Modi from September 7 for five days in relation to two further charges brought against the billionaire by the Indian government, namely allegations he destroyed evidence and intimidated witnesses in order to interfere with the CBI investigation into the Rs 7,000 crore fraud he allegedly conducted upon Punjab National Bank, which, alongside money-laundering charges, is the reason for the first extradition request.


Nirav’s next case management hearing will take place on August 27. The defence needs to submit its evidence by June 30 and the Indian government must submit its evidence by August 14 for the second hearing.

On Thursday, the final day of his first extradition hearing, a British jewellery expert gave evidence for Nirav, saying his brand had had "phenomenal success" and was at "the top end of success stories". Dr Richard Taylor, an international expert in diamonds and gems, told the court how the Nirav Modi brand quickly became a significant player in the global jewellery market, becoming a preferred customer of Alrosa, a Russian diamond mining company, as well as having a relationship with Rio Tinto’s Argyle diamond mine in Australia, famed for its pink diamonds.

"It is unbelievably difficult to be at the front of the queue for rare pink diamonds and this gave Nirav Modi a very significant commercial advantage. Coloured diamonds were a part of the Modi brand. For most companies it would take years to find the range of retailers the Nirav Modi group managed to access through acquisitions," he said. "The Nirav Modi company saw significant growth and the person running (it), Nirav, made very astute and inspired business decisions," he said.

Helen Malcolm QC, prosecuting Nirav, asked Taylor if he would expect a jewellery company to do nothing but manufacture, export, dismantle and re-export jewellery in an everlasting cycle with no outward sales. Taylor replied: "Yes, if that was only activity of the organisation, it would seem illogical."

A video of a group of Indian men, allegedly ex-employees from

Firestar Diamond

redeployed as dummy directors by Nirav to front his shadow companies in Dubai and Hong Kong, was played to the judge this week. They claimed that they were sent to Egypt by Nirav and his brother, that their passports and mobiles were removed, that they were threatened and controlled by the duo, told they would be implicated in crimes back in India and forced to sign false statements.

Arguments over the condition of

Arthur Road Jail

in Mumbai, where Nirav will be housed should he be extradited, and the admissibility of Indian government’s evidence, will take place at the second extradition hearing where 250 pages of further Crown Prosecution Service evidence in relation to the first extradition request will also be heard. Nirav is expected to be produced in person at that hearing if Covid-19 prison restrictions are eased by then.

Nirav’s barrister, Clare Montgmery QC, told the judge that she wanted to see the latest inspection report for Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai and also have a physical prison inspection as the 2018 August video of the jail, produced for the Vijay Mallya case, was "sub-optimal".

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