Former billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi is borrowing money to pay back the £150,247 (Rs 146 lakh) fine imposed on him after being ordered to pay costs for the appeal of his extraction, reported Times of India.
The fugitive diamantaire on Thursday appeared in front of London's Barkingside Magistrates Court from HMP Wandsworth through a video link and defended himself without a lawyer over the fact he had not paid the costs of £150,247 (Rs 146 lakh) for an appeal against his extradition. The order was made by the extradition proceedings judge on January 9 and Modi was asked to pay it within 28 days and he failed to do so. Modi had instead offered to pay £10,000 (Rs 9.7 lakh) a month but the fines team rejected the plea, which is why he was asked to be present in the court.
When Nirav was asked to confirm his name, data of birth and address he gave an address in India and said he did not have an UK address. When the court asked the reason for not paying, Modi replied that his assets have been frozen and he has no access to his legal funds.
Further when the bench of magistrates asked him if he was likely to be in prison some time, he affirmed it.
Nirav Modi's assets in India frozen
Talking about the frozen assets he said his assets are in India where they have been frozen for the last four years because of false allegations against him.
When the bench asked him if he would get the £10,000 per month Modi said, he was borrowing money for the past two years and his funds have dried up. According to Modi, he was in prison for four years and the funds dried up after the first two years and since that point he has been borrowing money. When the magistrates asked him why he went to prison Modi said, "Extradition charges."
Explaining why he did not go to India he said, "I will not get a fair trial in India." When the court asked him if he was going to be released from the prison he said he was not sure.
In the end the bench agreed to Nirav paying £10,000 (Rs 9.7 lakh) per month for the next six months and then have a review hearing. The two high court judges upheld a lower court's ruling that Modi has a case to answer before the Indian courts and it is not considered as an unjust or oppressive move to send him back to India.
Case against Nirav Modi
The extradition of Modi was ordered after he lost his appeals against extradition in the UK, but he has not yet returned to India. He is accused of carrying out a large fraud on Punjab National Bank, which is one of the largest in the history of banks. The Indian authorities have been seeking for Modi since February 2018 and he was detained in London in 2019 and since then has been held in prison without any bail.
