The Evening Wrap: Nirav Modi to be extradited to India, loses appeal in U.K. High Court

Diamond merchant Nirav Modi on November 9 lost his appeal against extradition on mental health grounds as the High Court in London ruled that his risk of suicide is not such that it would be either unjust or oppressive to extradite him to India to face charges of fraud and money laundering. Lord Justice Jeremy Stuart-Smith and Justice Robert Jay, who presided over the appeal hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice earlier this year, said in their verdict that District Judge Sam Goozee’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court order from last year in favour of extradition was “sound”. The leave to appeal in the High Court had been granted on two grounds — under Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) to hear arguments if it would be “unjust or oppressive” to extradite 51-year-old Modi due to his mental state and Section 91 of the Extradition Act 2003, also related to mental health. Pulling these various strands together and weighing them in the balance so as to reach an overall evaluative judgment on the question raised by Section 91, we are far from satisfied that Modi’s mental condition and the risk of suicide are such that it would be either unjust or oppressive to extradite him,” the ruling states. “It may be that the main benefit of the appeal has been to obtain the extensive further [Indian Government] assurances that we have identified in the course of this judgment, which render the position clear to Modi’s advantage and the District Judge’s decision supportable,” the judges ruled. As he has lost this appeal hearing, Modi can approach the Supreme Court on a point of law of public importance, to be applied for to the Supreme Court against the High Court’s decision within 14 days of a High Court verdict. However, this involves a high threshold as appeals to the Supreme Court can only be made if the High Court has certified that the case involves a point of law of general public importance. Finally, after all avenues in the UK courts are exhausted, the diamantaire could still seek a so-called Rule 39 injunction from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Therefore, the process of bringing him back to India to be lodged at Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai and stand trial for fraud and money laundering amounting to an estimated $2 billion in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan scam case still has some way to go. His legal team are yet to comment on any plans to appeal the High Court verdict. Meanwhile, Modi remains at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest in March 2019. Modi is the subject of two sets of criminal proceedings, with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case relating to a large-scale fraud upon PNB through the fraudulent obtaining of letters of undertaking (LoUs) or loan agreements, and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case relating to the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud. He also faces two additional charges of “causing the disappearance of evidence” and intimidating witnesses or “criminal intimidation to cause death”, which were added to the CBI case. Kerala Cabinet asks Governor to pass ordinance removing him as chancellor of universities The State Cabinet on Wednesday resolved to request Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan to promulgate an ordinance removing him as the sole chancellor of State universities. The government wants to supplant Khan with “renowned academic experts” as chancellors of various varsities. It was still being determined whether the government would appoint a separate chancellor for each of the 14 universities in the State. The government appeared to have opened a new political and legal front in the Left Democratic Front’s (LDF) conflict with Khan over the administration of State universities. For one, the proposed ordinance would, at a stroke, divest Khan’s power as chancellor and render Raj Bhavan remote from all aspects of the university administration. The Cabinet cited that the M. M. Punchhi Commission, constituted in 2007 to study Centre-State relations, had vouched against granting Governors the chancellor’s powers. The Cabinet contended that the Legislative Assembly had created the office of the chancellor and weaved the legislation into the founding statute that established State universities. Hence, the Assembly was assertively competent to withdraw the Governor’s powers as chancellor. The Cabinet noted that the Punchhi Commission had stressed that State governments should desist from burdening Governors with the role of chancellor of universities lest the extra authority impede them from the discharge of their constitutional obligations. The Cabinet decision came as no surprise. On Sunday, CPI(M) State secretary M. V. Govindan had hinted the party would go to any extent to insulate the jurisdictional autonomy of universities from Khan’s alleged trespasses. The three-day CPI(M) State leadership conference Govindan chaired had flagged the friction caused by Khan’s continuation as chancellor and also grappled with the vexing question of curtailing his powers. The CPI(M) also seemed to take a cue from the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government’s reported weighing of a similar measure following several run-ins with the neighbouring State’s governor over various issues related to university administration. The Cabinet’s momentous decision came when government-Governor relations were at their lowest point. Earlier, Khan had controversially withdrawn the pleasure for the continuation of Finance Minister K. N. Balagopal in office. He accused the Minister of seditious speech and repeatedly engaged in an acrimonious war of words with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Khan had also thrown down the gauntlet to the LDF government by seeking the resignation of vice-chancellors on the ground that the Supreme Court had deemed their appointment processes flawed. He premised his controversial directive on the ground that the government had appointed them through the same procedure deemed unlawful by the Supreme Court in the case of the A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) vice-chancellor. The Kerala High Court granted some relief to the government on Tuesday by temporarily restraining the chancellor from passing final orders on the show cause notices he issued to the vice-chancellors. By some accounts, the Government would introduce a Bill in the Assembly if Khan disagreed with the ordinance and withheld its promulgation. However, it might not be a smooth going for the LDF in the Assembly. Opposition Leader V. D. Satheesan shattered the government’s hope of a unanimous vote to curtail the Governor’s powers by stating the UDF would oppose a possible Bill to remove the Governor from the chancellor’s post. He said the LDF’s move was not well-intentioned and was conspiratorial. The CPI(M) aspired to insert its favourites into chancellor positions to take total control of the higher education sector to promote politically partisan interests, including nepotism in appointments. Satheeshan’s opposition notwithstanding, the LDF is confident that it has the numbers to push a Bill removing Khan as university chancellor through the Assembly. Moreover, other LDF constituents, including the CPI has closed ranks against the Governor’s alleged trespasses on the jurisdictional autonomy of centres of higher learning. Sanjay Raut walks out of Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail after securing bail in money laundering case Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut walked out of Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail on Wednesday evening, hours after a special court granted him bail in a money laundering case. He was arrested on August 1 by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the money laundering case related to a housing project in suburban Goregaon. At around 5 p.m., Mr. Raut’s legal team dropped his bail order into the Arthur Road jail box and at about 6.50 p.m., the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader stepped out of the prison, where he had spent more than three months. A large number of supporters of the Rajya Sabha member, who had assembled outside the jail, burst into celebration as soon as he walked out of the jail and raised slogans hailing him. Firecrackers were set off near the jail in central Mumbai by Mr. Raut’s supporters. Earlier in the day, a special court granted bail to Mr. Raut in a 2018 chawl redevelopment case related to irregularities. Facebook owner Meta lays off 13% of its employees, announces hiring freeze through Q1 2023 Meta, in a blog post, on Wednesday shared that it will be firing 13% of its workforce, around 11,000 employees. The company also shared that it will be extending the hiring freeze through Q1. In a direct message to employees, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that staff reductions will be made across the company’s family of apps and Reality Labs. The move comes just a week after widespread layoffs at Twitter under its new owner, billionaire Elon Musk. Meta, like other social media companies, enjoyed a financial boost during the pandemic lockdown era because more people stayed home and scrolled on their phones and computers. But as the lockdowns ended and people started going outside again, revenue growth began to falter. In a post titled “Mark Zuckerberg’s message to Meta employees”, the company shared that the decision to downsize came due to a macroeconomic downturn, increased competition and ads signal loss. The company also shared that it will be paying out 16 weeks of base pay and two additional weeks of pay for every year of service. Meta will also provide immigration support, health insurance for six months, and career services to employees. The cuts come at a time Zuckerberg has come under increasing pressure from investors to cut spending. Meta will be focusing on growth areas like AI discovery engine, ads and business platforms, the company shared in the post. An economic slowdown and a grim outlook for online advertising — by far Meta’s biggest revenue source — have contributed to Meta’s woes. This summer, Meta posted its first quarterly revenue decline in history, followed by another, bigger decline in the fall. Last week, Twitter laid off about half of its 7,500 employees, part of a chaotic overhaul as Musk took the helm. He tweeted that there was no choice but to cut the jobs “when the company is losing over $4M/day,” though he did not provide details about the losses. Meta has worried investors by pouring over $10 billion a year into the “metaverse” as it shifts its focus away from social media. CEO Mark Zuckerberg predicts the metaverse, an immersive digital universe, will eventually replace smartphones as the primary way people use technology. Meta and its advertisers are bracing for a potential recession. There’s also the challenge of Apple’s privacy tools, which make it more difficult for social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Snap to track people without their consent and target ads to them. In Brief British police say a man was detained Wednesday after appearing to throw eggs at King Charles III and Camilla, the Queen Consort, as they walked in the northern England city of York. The incident happened as the monarch and his wife were entering York through Micklegate Bar, a medieval gateway where monarchs are traditionally welcomed to the city. Video footage showed several eggs in motion and smashed on the ground. None appeared to hit the royal couple. Britain’s PA news agency reported that he shouted “this country was built on the blood of slaves” as he was being detained. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 09 NOVEMBER 2022 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Nirav Modi to be extradited to India, loses appeal in U.K. High Court Diamond merchant Nirav Modi on November 9 [lost his appeal against extradition]( on mental health grounds as the High Court in London ruled that his risk of suicide is not such that it would be either unjust or oppressive to extradite him to India to face charges of fraud and money laundering. Lord Justice Jeremy Stuart-Smith and Justice Robert Jay, who presided over the appeal hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice earlier this year, said in their verdict that District Judge Sam Goozee’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court order from last year in favour of extradition was “sound”. [Diamond merchant Nirav Modi attends a charity event in New Delhi on November 8, 2017.] The leave to appeal in the High Court had been granted on two grounds — under Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) to hear arguments if it would be “unjust or oppressive” to extradite 51-year-old Modi due to his mental state and Section 91 of the Extradition Act 2003, also related to mental health. Pulling these various strands together and weighing them in the balance so as to reach an overall evaluative judgment on the question raised by Section 91, we are far from satisfied that Modi’s mental condition and the risk of suicide are such that it would be either unjust or oppressive to extradite him,” the ruling states. “It may be that the main benefit of the appeal has been to obtain the extensive further [Indian Government] assurances that we have identified in the course of this judgment, which render the position clear to Modi’s advantage and the District Judge’s decision supportable,” the judges ruled. As he has lost this appeal hearing, Modi can approach the Supreme Court on a point of law of public importance, to be applied for to the Supreme Court against the High Court’s decision within 14 days of a High Court verdict. However, this involves a high threshold as appeals to the Supreme Court can only be made if the High Court has certified that the case involves a point of law of general public importance. Finally, after all avenues in the UK courts are exhausted, the diamantaire could still seek a so-called Rule 39 injunction from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Therefore, the process of bringing him back to India to be lodged at Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai and stand trial for fraud and money laundering amounting to an estimated $2 billion in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan scam case still has some way to go. His legal team are yet to comment on any plans to appeal the High Court verdict. Meanwhile, Modi remains at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest in March 2019. Modi is the subject of two sets of criminal proceedings, with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case relating to a large-scale fraud upon PNB through the fraudulent obtaining of letters of undertaking (LoUs) or loan agreements, and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case relating to the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud. He also faces two additional charges of “causing the disappearance of evidence” and intimidating witnesses or “criminal intimidation to cause death”, which were added to the CBI case. Kerala Cabinet asks Governor to pass ordinance removing him as chancellor of universities The State Cabinet on Wednesday [resolved to request Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan to promulgate an ordinance]( removing him as the sole chancellor of State universities. The government wants to supplant Khan with “renowned academic experts” as chancellors of various varsities. It was still being determined whether the government would appoint a separate chancellor for each of the 14 universities in the State. The government appeared to have opened a new political and legal front in the Left Democratic Front’s (LDF) conflict with Khan over the administration of State universities. For one, the proposed ordinance would, at a stroke, divest Khan’s power as chancellor and render Raj Bhavan remote from all aspects of the university administration. The Cabinet cited that the M. M. Punchhi Commission, constituted in 2007 to study Centre-State relations, had vouched against granting Governors the chancellor’s powers. The Cabinet contended that the Legislative Assembly had created the office of the chancellor and weaved the legislation into the founding statute that established State universities. Hence, the Assembly was assertively competent to withdraw the Governor’s powers as chancellor. The Cabinet noted that the Punchhi Commission had stressed that State governments should desist from burdening Governors with the role of chancellor of universities lest the extra authority impede them from the discharge of their constitutional obligations. The Cabinet decision came as no surprise. On Sunday, CPI(M) State secretary M. V. Govindan had hinted the party would go to any extent to insulate the jurisdictional autonomy of universities from Khan’s alleged trespasses. The three-day CPI(M) State leadership conference Govindan chaired had flagged the friction caused by Khan’s continuation as chancellor and also grappled with the vexing question of curtailing his powers. The CPI(M) also seemed to take a cue from the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government’s reported weighing of a similar measure following several run-ins with the neighbouring State’s governor over various issues related to university administration. The Cabinet’s momentous decision came when government-Governor relations were at their lowest point. Earlier, Khan had controversially withdrawn the pleasure for the continuation of Finance Minister K. N. Balagopal in office. He accused the Minister of seditious speech and repeatedly engaged in an acrimonious war of words with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Khan had also thrown down the gauntlet to the LDF government by seeking the resignation of vice-chancellors on the ground that the Supreme Court had deemed their appointment processes flawed. He premised his controversial directive on the ground that the government had appointed them through the same procedure deemed unlawful by the Supreme Court in the case of the A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) vice-chancellor. The Kerala High Court granted some relief to the government on Tuesday by temporarily restraining the chancellor from passing final orders on the show cause notices he issued to the vice-chancellors. By some accounts, the Government would introduce a Bill in the Assembly if Khan disagreed with the ordinance and withheld its promulgation. However, it might not be a smooth going for the LDF in the Assembly. Opposition Leader V. D. Satheesan shattered the government’s hope of a unanimous vote to curtail the Governor’s powers by stating the UDF would oppose a possible Bill to remove the Governor from the chancellor’s post. He said the LDF’s move was not well-intentioned and was conspiratorial. The CPI(M) aspired to insert its favourites into chancellor positions to take total control of the higher education sector to promote politically partisan interests, including nepotism in appointments. Satheeshan’s opposition notwithstanding, the LDF is confident that it has the numbers to push a Bill removing Khan as university chancellor through the Assembly. Moreover, other LDF constituents, including the CPI has closed ranks against the Governor’s alleged trespasses on the jurisdictional autonomy of centres of higher learning. Sanjay Raut walks out of Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail after securing bail in money laundering case Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut [walked out of Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail]( on Wednesday evening, hours after a special court granted him bail in a money laundering case. He was arrested on August 1 by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the money laundering case related to a housing project in suburban Goregaon. At around 5 p.m., Mr. Raut’s legal team dropped his bail order into the Arthur Road jail box and at about 6.50 p.m., the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader stepped out of the prison, where he had spent more than three months. A large number of supporters of the Rajya Sabha member, who had assembled outside the jail, burst into celebration as soon as he walked out of the jail and raised slogans hailing him. Firecrackers were set off near the jail in central Mumbai by Mr. Raut’s supporters. Earlier in the day, a special court granted bail to Mr. Raut in a 2018 chawl redevelopment case related to irregularities. Facebook owner Meta lays off 13% of its employees, announces hiring freeze through Q1 2023 Meta, in a blog post, on Wednesday [shared that it will be firing 13% of its workforce, around 11,000 employees](. The company also shared that it will be extending the hiring freeze through Q1. In a direct message to employees, [Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said]( that staff reductions will be made across the company’s family of apps and Reality Labs. The move comes just a week after widespread layoffs at Twitter under its new owner, billionaire Elon Musk. [A general view outside the Meta office in King’s Cross on November 9, 2022 in London.] Meta, like other social media companies, enjoyed a financial boost during the pandemic lockdown era because more people stayed home and scrolled on their phones and computers. But as the lockdowns ended and people started going outside again, revenue growth began to falter. In a post titled “Mark Zuckerberg’s message to Meta employees”, the company shared that the decision to downsize came due to a macroeconomic downturn, increased competition and ads signal loss. The company also shared that it will be paying out 16 weeks of base pay and two additional weeks of pay for every year of service. Meta will also provide immigration support, health insurance for six months, and career services to employees. The cuts come at a time Zuckerberg has come under increasing pressure from investors to cut spending. Meta will be focusing on growth areas like AI discovery engine, ads and business platforms, the company shared in the post. An economic slowdown and a grim outlook for online advertising — by far Meta’s biggest revenue source — have contributed to Meta’s woes. This summer, Meta posted its first quarterly revenue decline in history, followed by another, bigger decline in the fall. Last week, Twitter laid off about half of its 7,500 employees, part of a chaotic overhaul as Musk took the helm. He tweeted that there was no choice but to cut the jobs “when the company is losing over $4M/day,” though he did not provide details about the losses. Meta has worried investors by pouring over $10 billion a year into the “metaverse” as it shifts its focus away from social media. CEO Mark Zuckerberg predicts the metaverse, an immersive digital universe, will eventually replace smartphones as the primary way people use technology. Meta and its advertisers are bracing for a potential recession. There’s also the challenge of Apple’s privacy tools, which make it more difficult for social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Snap to track people without their consent and target ads to them. In Brief British police say a man was detained Wednesday after [appearing to throw eggs at King Charles III]( and Camilla, the Queen Consort, as they walked in the northern England city of York. The incident happened as the monarch and his wife were entering York through Micklegate Bar, a medieval gateway where monarchs are traditionally welcomed to the city. Video footage showed several eggs in motion and smashed on the ground. None appeared to hit the royal couple. Britain’s PA news agency reported that he shouted “this country was built on the blood of slaves” as he was being detained. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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