Court in London denies bail to Dawood Ibrahim's financial aide Jabir Moti in money laundering case

London Westminster Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday denied bail to Dawood Ibrahim’s key aide, Jabir Moti, in a case of money laundering charges. According to ANI, Moti was detained by UK security forces in London on 19 August. During the hearing, Moti’s counsel appealed to the judge to ban the media from the court over safety concerns due to “reports appearing in the Indian media”.

Judge Coleman, hearing the case, turned down his request. “We have open justice in this country,” the judge said, adding that she might consider allowing Jabir to not to have his UK address aired in open court. He had been arrested by Scotland Yard’s Extradition Unit on Friday on suspicion of conspiracy to blackmail, import illegal drugs and money laundering in the United States. [caption id=“attachment_5013461” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Jabir Moti. ANI[/caption] He was represented in court by his defence attorney Toby Cadman, from the law firm Guernica, who raised some issues with the charges listed in the provisional warrant and those is a “diplomatic note” seeking his extradition to the US. The court was told that the “criminality is vague” as the warrant and the diplomatic note have some differences and should be deemed invalid. “This is just a provisional warrant, which allows for 65 days to present the paperwork to back up the charges,” the judge said, allowing for the hearing to go ahead. The hearing, which was to begin Tuesday morning, was adjourned for post-lunch as the judge decided that any “inconsistencies” between the provisional warrant and the diplomatic note can be dealt with over the 65-day period available for extradition matters. Jabir, a Pakistani national, has a ten-year visa to the UK and shares common financial interest with Dawood’s wife Mehajabeen, his son Moeen Nawaz and his daughters Mahrookh, Mehreen and his sons-in-law, Junaid (son of former Pakistan Cricketer Javed Miandad) and Aurangazeb. Dawood’s youngest daughter Mazia is unmarried. Jabir is believed to be the right-hand man of Dawood, managing his investments businesses which spans across Pakistan and areas covering the West Asia, the UK and Europe, Africa and countries of southeast Asia. Sources told PTI that Dawood’s earnings from these businesses and other unlawful activities like illegal arms business, narcotics trade, extortion rackets and real estate business are used for financing terrorists to carry out anti-India operations. Of late, Jabir was also looking for dual nationality status in Barbados and Antigua and Dominican Republic and a Permanent Resident status in Hungary. With inputs from agencies