INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
LONDON: Nirav Modi, the fugitive diamond merchant wanted in India to stand trial on fraud and money laundering charges, told a UK court on
Thursday that he could be in England for years as some ongoing proceedings prevent his extradition.The 52-year-old former billionaire
appeared for a hearing at Barkingside Magistrates' Court in east London via video link from Thameside prison in relation legal costs, or
fines, amounting to GBP 150,247.00, accrued over his failed extradition appeal proceedings in the London High Court.Dressed in a pink
prison-issue outfit and sporting a moustache, a plump and bald Nirav addressed the three-member magistrates' bench to reveal that he had
complied with the previous court direction to pay in GBP 10,000 per month towards the fines."I am in prison on remand and remain
continued imprisonment.Questioned if he was aware of a timeframe for the extradition proceedings to be completed, he responded
the case related to the unpaid fines was adjourned to February 8, 2024, when Nirav would again be expected to appear via video link from
prison.Meanwhile, the outstanding fines balance was confirmed as GBP 70,247, which the diamantaire said he intends to carry on paying
emerged that Nirav had been transferred out of HMP (His Majesty's Prison) Wandsworth, one of the UK's largest and most overcrowded prisons,
to the privately-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 prison in south-west London
The escape had raised serious questions around alleged understaffing and overcrowding at Wandsworth, where Nirav had been lodged since his
arrest on an extradition warrant in March 2019.Last year, Nirav lost his legal battle in the highest UK court against being extradited to
India in the estimated USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan scam case
application.At the last procedural hearing in March this year, Barkingside Magistrates' Court had granted his plea to be allowed to pay GBP
10,000 a month using borrowed funds after he told the court of his financial hardships due to his assets being frozen in India
This week's hearing was scheduled as a review of that previous order.In December last year, a two-judge bench in the Royal Courts of Justice
in London had refused Nirav's application for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court on suicide risk grounds and also refused his
application to certify a point of law, which concluded his extradition appeal options in the UK courts.Nirav was arrested on March 19, 2019,
on an extradition warrant based on Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) charges against the
losses equivalent to over GBP 700 million, the ED case relating to the alleged laundering of the proceeds of that fraud and a third set of
criminal proceedings involving alleged interference with evidence and witnesses in the CBI proceedings.Then UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel,
had ordered Nirav's extradition based on Judge Sam Goozee's Westminster Magistrates' Court ruling in April 2021
