London: The stage is set for a busy period of Indian extradition-related activity in the UK courts as liquor baron Vijay Mallya's High Court appeal moves forward for a judge's verdict on paperwork and fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi returns to Westminster Magistrates' Court here for a second bail hearing toady.
Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot who had concluded that Mallya has a case to answer in the Indian courts over substantial "misrepresentations" of his financial dealings is now the judge for Nirav Modi's case.
Now, Emma Arbuthnot is expected to preside over the next major Indian extradition trial to come before the Westminster Magistrates' Court, that of diamantaire Modi – wanted for alleged "high value and sophisticated" fraud and money laundering amounting to USD 2 billion.
"He is expected to be produced before the court for a second bail application hearing on March 29," a court official said.
Meanwhile, the 48-year-old has been lodged in HMP Wandsworth prison in south-west London since last Wednesday, when a judge had declined his request for bail on the grounds that he posed a flight risk.
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Describing him as the "opposite of a flight risk" during the first bail application hearing last week, Modi's defence team had offered 500,000 pounds as security and also submitted to any stringent conditions that may be imposed upon their client.
It remains to be seen how they would further bolster that offer in order to convince the judge to grant bail during the second hearing, following which the case will proceed to a series of case management hearings and setting of a trial date.
Modi was arrested by the Scotland Yard officers from a bank in central London as he attempted to open a new bank account on March 19.
During his first court appearance a day after, it emerged that the diamantaire accused of defrauding India's state-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) via fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) had been in possession of multiple passports, since revoked by the Indian authorities.
While one passport is now in possession of the Metropolitan Police, a second expired passport is lying with the UK Home Office and a third with the UK's Driving and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) for a driver's licence.
Besides the passports, Modi also possesses multiple residency cards, some of them expired, but covering countries such as the UAE, Singapore and Hong Kong.
His defence team tried to establish his very "visible" and "lawful" residence at his luxury Centre Point apartment in London's West End, paying his local council tax and also using a National Insurance number, allocated to legal UK residents for purposes of work.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), arguing on behalf of the Indian authorities, had challenged all claims to counter the first bail plea and pointed out that Modi had "deliberately evaded justice" and not returned to India despite a series of criminal summons issued by Indian courts.
The CPS will now be joined by a joint Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) team that has arrived from India to assist with Modi's extradition case.
