LONDON: Sundar Nagarajan, the Indian citizen accused of running the funds for one of the top financiers of Hizbollah, has denied all the allegations against him and told a London court on Tuesday his family is Hindu and would never support Islamic terrorism.
Westminster magistrates’ court heard that Nagarajan’s wife, who has Belgian citizenship, took her own life on April 21 as a direct result of her husband’s arrest on April 18 following an extradition request from the US. At the mere mention of his mother, Nagarajan’s younger son, a student at a London university, who was in court, burst into floods of tears.
Fifteen armed police officers wearing balaclavas barged into the Hayes home of retired accountant Nagarajan (65) at 5.45 am on April 18, “tied him up” and seized all his jewellery and devices, and he has been held in a London jail ever since, Nagarajan’s barrister, George Hepburne Scott, told the court, questioning the “proportionality” of such actions towards “a man of good character”.
Nagarajan was born in Madurai and has lived in the UK since 2016. He has pre-settled status to remain until June 2024. Nagrajan had recently applied for residency in Belgium where he owns a family house. When his home was raided, $28,000 in cash was found in a suitcase and bank statements showed recent movements of large sums of money.
Scott informed the court that since his wife was unable to make contact with her husband for three days, she “took the decision she did”. “Nagarajan comes from a Hindu background, he is not an Islamic terrorist, and finds Islamic terrorism unacceptable,” Scott said. He said Nagarajan needed bail to make arrangements for his wife’s funeral, to grieve and take care of his younger son, who is unwell.
His elder son flewover from the US to the hearing and put forward £60,000 as bail security, saying he was ready to “put everythingon the line” to secure his father’s release.
But district judge Briony Clarke refused bail, saying she was concerned about “airline reservations to Beirut”, ties and assets Nagarajan had in Belgium and India, and “an application for a visa in South Africa”. “I have substantial grounds to believe if granted bail you would fail to surrender,” she said.
Nagarajan appeared via video-link from a London jail in a blue-collared shirt and appeared calm throughout.
The US is seeking to extradite him to the US where he faces seven charges, including smuggling goods from the US, unlawfully importing goods into the US, wire fraud, violating US terrorism sanctions, and conspiracy to defraud the US.
Rosalind Comyn, representing the US,said that in December 2019 the US Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Ahmad and 11 businesses associated with him as specially designated nationals for materially supporting Hizbollah, making it unlawful for any US person to engage in transactions with them. Nagarajan was the accountant who assisted in the operation of Ahmad’s entities, she alleged, saying that between January 2021 and August 2022 significant amounts of diamonds and fine art were exported and imported to the US, evading US sanctions.
“Nagarajan directed or facilitated these transactions on behalf of these companies,” she alleged.
Hepburne Scott said Nagarajan had worked for Ahmad and filled in tax forms and so on “for his boss” but said he acted “legitimately and lawfully at all times.” “It is about knowledge. Did he know about this? He says he didn’t,” he said.
Westminster magistrates’ court heard that Nagarajan’s wife, who has Belgian citizenship, took her own life on April 21 as a direct result of her husband’s arrest on April 18 following an extradition request from the US. At the mere mention of his mother, Nagarajan’s younger son, a student at a London university, who was in court, burst into floods of tears.
Fifteen armed police officers wearing balaclavas barged into the Hayes home of retired accountant Nagarajan (65) at 5.45 am on April 18, “tied him up” and seized all his jewellery and devices, and he has been held in a London jail ever since, Nagarajan’s barrister, George Hepburne Scott, told the court, questioning the “proportionality” of such actions towards “a man of good character”.
Nagarajan was born in Madurai and has lived in the UK since 2016. He has pre-settled status to remain until June 2024. Nagrajan had recently applied for residency in Belgium where he owns a family house. When his home was raided, $28,000 in cash was found in a suitcase and bank statements showed recent movements of large sums of money.
Scott informed the court that since his wife was unable to make contact with her husband for three days, she “took the decision she did”. “Nagarajan comes from a Hindu background, he is not an Islamic terrorist, and finds Islamic terrorism unacceptable,” Scott said. He said Nagarajan needed bail to make arrangements for his wife’s funeral, to grieve and take care of his younger son, who is unwell.
His elder son flewover from the US to the hearing and put forward £60,000 as bail security, saying he was ready to “put everythingon the line” to secure his father’s release.
But district judge Briony Clarke refused bail, saying she was concerned about “airline reservations to Beirut”, ties and assets Nagarajan had in Belgium and India, and “an application for a visa in South Africa”. “I have substantial grounds to believe if granted bail you would fail to surrender,” she said.
Nagarajan appeared via video-link from a London jail in a blue-collared shirt and appeared calm throughout.
The US is seeking to extradite him to the US where he faces seven charges, including smuggling goods from the US, unlawfully importing goods into the US, wire fraud, violating US terrorism sanctions, and conspiracy to defraud the US.
Rosalind Comyn, representing the US,said that in December 2019 the US Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Ahmad and 11 businesses associated with him as specially designated nationals for materially supporting Hizbollah, making it unlawful for any US person to engage in transactions with them. Nagarajan was the accountant who assisted in the operation of Ahmad’s entities, she alleged, saying that between January 2021 and August 2022 significant amounts of diamonds and fine art were exported and imported to the US, evading US sanctions.
“Nagarajan directed or facilitated these transactions on behalf of these companies,” she alleged.
Hepburne Scott said Nagarajan had worked for Ahmad and filled in tax forms and so on “for his boss” but said he acted “legitimately and lawfully at all times.” “It is about knowledge. Did he know about this? He says he didn’t,” he said.