Fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, fighting extradition to India on charges over the nearly $2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case, was further remanded in custody at a hearing on Wednesday and asked to appear via videolink on January 2.
Modi appeared for his regular 28-day “call-over” appearance from London’s Wandsworth prison at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, where Judge Gareth Branston reconfirmed that his extradition trial will begin on May 11 next year and will last five days.
The judge also decided that Modi will appear via videolink on January 2, 2020.
The 48-year-old had moved yet another bail application last month with an “unprecedented” house arrest guarantee, akin to those imposed on terrorist suspects, as well as citing mental health issues from being behind bars at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest in March.
But the bail plea was turned down by Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot over continued fears of witness intimidation and failure to surrender before the court for his extradition trial in May 2020.
Modi has been behind bars at Wandsworth, one of England’s most overcrowded prisons, since his arrest on March 19 on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard on charges brought by the Indian government.
During subsequent hearings, the UK court has been told that Modi was the “principal beneficiary” of the fraudulent issuance of letters of undertaking as part of a conspiracy to defraud PNB and then laundering the proceeds of crime.
The diamond merchant denies the charges of fraud and money laundering.
