The Indian Panorama

Tag: Mehul Choksi

  • Mehul Choksi remanded to state prison in Dominica, but to remain in hospital: His lawyer

    Mehul Choksi remanded to state prison in Dominica, but to remain in hospital: His lawyer

    New Delhi (TIP): A magistrate court in Dominica on Thursday, June 17,  moved businessman Mehul Choksi from police custody to a state prison, his lawyer in India said, but added that he would continue to remain in hospital as his medical condition “deteriorated”.

    “Yes, (Choksi’s) police custody has been changed to prison custody but he shall remain in hospital as his medical condition has deteriorated,” lawyer Vijay Aggarwal said.

    His legal team had submitted a medical certificate from doctors at the Dominica China Friendship Hospital, where Choksi is undergoing treatment, of “mental stress” and elevated blood pressure.

    The change in custody is being seen as a ray of hope for India which has approached the Dominica High Court seeking to be impleaded as a party in the case filed by lawyers of Choksi whose bail plea was earlier rejected.

    Choksi is wanted in India in a case of loan fraud worth about Rs 13,500 crore in the state-run Punjab National Bank.

    The CBI and the Ministry of External Affairs have sought to be impleaded in the habeas corpus matter, which seeks return of Choksi to Antigua and Barbuda, by filing two affidavits in the Dominica High Court, officials said here.

    The central agency is likely to focus on establishing criminal culpability of Choksi, fugitive status, pending warrants against him, Red Notice and charge sheets while the Ministry of External Affairs will argue that Choksi continues to be an Indian citizen, they said.

    The affidavits, if admitted by the high court, will pave the way for noted lawyer Harish Salve pleading India’s case in Dominica, they said.

    The fresh development seems to indicate that India stands a chance to be heard and make a legal attempt to bring the fugitive diamantaire back to the country and face a trial.

    The CBI had on Wednesday filed a supplementary charge sheet against him alleging him of having prior knowledge of the impending Enforcement Directorate (ED) enquiries against him in 2017 which triggered him to plan his escape from India and cover his tracks by concealing evidence.

    The CBI in its supplementary charge sheet has invoked Section 201 of the IPC among other charges which pertain to the destruction of evidence by a suspect as part of criminal conspiracy.

    Choksi has been admitted at the Dominica China Friendship Hospital since May 29 after being held by the authorities of the Caribbean island country for “illegal entry” on May 24, a charge denied by him.

    His lawyers in Dominica have contended that Choksi was removed from Antigua and Barbuda, where as a citizen he enjoys rights to approach the British Privy Council as the last resort in cases on his citizenship and extradition, to Dominica where these rights are not available to him.

    “The aim was to remove him from Antigua to Dominica was to diminish his protection under the law. Choksi has ongoing proceedings in Antigua in regards to attempts by the Prime Minister to remove his citizenship, the only citizenship that he possesses, and to extradite him to India,” his lawyer had said.

    India trying for early deportation: MEA

    The Indian government is actively engaged with Dominica to seek early deportation of fugitive diamond merchant Mehul Choksi and his handover to India, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

    A Dominican magistrate court adjourned till June 25 the hearing into alleged illegal entry of Choksi into the Caribbean island nation, local media there had reported earlier this week.

    Asked about Choksi at an online media briefing, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said Choksi continues to be in the custody of authorities in the commonwealth of Dominica and legal proceedings are underway.

    “Government of India is actively engaged with the Dominican government to seek the early deportation and handover to India of Mehul Choksi to face justice in our country,” he said.

  • India files affidavit in court proving Mehul Choksi’s Indian citizenship, CBI team already in Dominica

    India files affidavit in court proving Mehul Choksi’s Indian citizenship, CBI team already in Dominica

    New Delhi (TIP): Making matters worse for fugitive economic offender, Mehul Choksi, India has filed an affidavit proving the businessman’s citizenship in the Dominica High Court.

    The Indian investigation team consisting of ED and CBI have prepared the affidavit, which was filed by Ministry of External Affairs’ official on behalf of Union of India.

    Apart from stating that Choksi is an Indian citizen, the affidavit says that he is wanted in Rs 13,000 crore bank scam for which the investigating teams want to take him back to India.

    “Indian agencies are investigating him. His entry to Antigua should be considered illegal,” said sources noted the affidavit.

    Indian investigating teams under CBI SP Sharda Raut have already reached Dominica.

    Top Indian government sources have revealed that the Centre has taken help of ex-solicitor general Harish Salve in preparing the final draft of the affidavit. “He has given his services free of cost for the country,” revealed sources.

    Top officials in the Intelligence Bureau said that Choksi is paying huge money to lawyers to handle his case. “He has hired lawyers from Dominica, India and UK to handle the case. Money he is using is same he looted from Indian banks. His wife is doing PR on his behalf. She is giving wrong direction to the case that he is not an Indian citizen,” said sources.

    They further asserted that Choksi is very much an Indian citizen and needs to be arrested for the scam he has committed and the case is filed in India.

    “Indian Investigation teams are in Dominica and he should surrender himself and join the investigation,” they said. “My husband is not an Indian citizen, he must be returned to his family, and to his home in Antigua and Barbuda. My husband has categorically said in the Indian courts that he is available to be interviewed for Indian agencies, But if you don’t want to interview him. How will you ever investigate this case.” said Choksi’s wife, Priti.

  • Indian jet in Dominica for Mehul Choksi flies out, destination unknown

    Indian jet in Dominica for Mehul Choksi flies out, destination unknown

    New Delhi (TIP): The private jet India sent to Dominica with documents linked to the deportation of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi last week has flown out of the island at 8:10pm (local time) on Thursday, June 3, people familiar with the development said. Choksi, wanted in the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, remains at Dominica-China Friendship Hospital under police guard.

    The Indian team, which went there along with the documents, has also returned, the people cited above saidalso added that the flight’s destination is not known.

    Indian-born Choksi disappeared from Antigua and Barbuda, whose citizenship he holds, on May 23 but was detained by Dominican police three days later on charges of illegally entering the island, nearly 100 nautical miles away.

    Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Browne said last week that the Bombardier Global 5000 business jet of Qatar Executive landed at Dominica’s Douglas Charles airport May 29. Browne also told a radio show in his country that Choksi may have left Antigua and taken a boat ride to neighbouring Dominica to have dinner or a “good time” with his girlfriend.

    On Thursday, a court in Dominica denied bail to the 62-year-old businessman and remanded him to police custody for roughly two weeks on charges of illegally entering the island nation. And, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court adjourned hearing in a habeas corpus petition filed by Choksi’s lawyers and the government of Antigua, where the 62-year-old spent three years as a citizen before he went missing on May 23, reiterated that it favoured deporting the businessman to India.

    India said it was making all efforts to bring back Mehul Choksi. “He (Choksi) is currently in the custody of Dominica with some legal proceedings underway. We will continue to make all efforts to ensure he is brought to back India,” foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told reporters. “Let me emphasise that India remains steadfast in its efforts to ensure that fugitives are brought back to India to face justice,” Bagchi added. This is the first time the Indian government has officially commented on the issue since Choksi disappeared from Antigua, where he has been living since 2018 after acquiring its citizenship, and was found three days later in Dominica. India-born Choksi faces two separate legal proceedings in Dominica. A magistrate’s court in the Dominican capital Roseau is hearing the government’s charge that the businessman entered the country illegally. And, Choksi’s lawyers have moved the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, alleging that he was abducted and asking him to be sent back to Antigua.

    Source: HT

  • PNB scam: Choksi’s immediate repatriation stayed by Dominica court

    PNB scam: Choksi’s immediate repatriation stayed by Dominica court

    A Dominica court has put a stay on the repatriation of fugitive Mehul Choksi after Choksi’s legal team in Dominica filed a habeas corpus petition and highlighted that he was denied legal rights and was not allowed to meet his lawyers initially, local media reported. The matter is expected to be heard again on May 28 at 9am local time. This comes after the acting police chief of Dominica Lincoln Corbette told Hindustan Times that the fugitive businessman, wanted in India in multicrore PNB scam, will be repatriated to Antigua and not to India.

    Currently, Choksi is in the custody of Dominica Police and is being investigated, police said.

    Under a habeas corpus petition, an arrested person has to be brought before a judge, especially to secure the person’s release “unless lawful grounds are shown for their detention”. Choksi’s Dominica lawyer Wayne Marshe said it is a “travesty of justice” as Choksi is entitled to legal representation — be it in Antigua or Dominica.

    Choksi’s lawyer in India Vijay Aggarwal said his client was picked up by various people from Jolly Harbour, where his car was found after his sudden disappearance, and then he was taken to Dominica.

    “I noticed that he was severely beaten, his eyes were swollen and had several burnt marks on his body. He reported to me that he was abducted at Jolly Harbour in Antigua and brought to Dominica by persons whom he believed to be Indian and Antiguan police on a vessel he described to be about 60-70 feet in length,” Choksi’s lawyer in Dominica Wayne Marshe told ANI.

    After Choksi was apprehended in Dominica, Antiguan Prime Minister Gaston Browne said he asked Dominica to hand Choksi over to India directly. But the legality of that in the absence of an extradition arrangement between India and Dominica was questioned.

    “Ultimately, it is the sovereign decision of the government of Dominica as to which country they repatriate Mehul Choksi unless the Court states otherwise,” Browne told ANI.

    Dominica is not among the 58 countries with which India has either extradition treaties or arrangements, while it has the same with Antigua and Barbuda. In such cases, the decision of where a fugitive will be repatriated depends on local authorities.

  • Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi coming back to face law, says Sitharaman

    Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman  said that fugitive businessmen Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi are “coming back” to India to face the law. The government is pursuing extradition of Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi from the UK while Mehul Choksi is believed to be in Antigua and Barbuda. “Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi all of them are coming back to face the law of this land…One after other everybody is coming back to this country to face the law of this country,” Ms Sitharaman said while responding to a discussion on Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2021 in Rajya Sabha. Vijay Mallya, an accused in bank loan default case of over Rs 9,000 crore involving his defunct Kingfisher Airlines, is in the UK since March 2016. He is on bail on an extradition warrant executed three years ago by Scotland Yard on April 18, 2017. Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, are accused in a scam involving fake guarantees in the name of state-run PNB to secure overseas loans. Both fled India in 2018, before the CBI began probe. Last month, Nirav Modi, the diamond merchant wanted on charges of fraud and money laundering in the estimated $2-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case, had lost his legal battle against extradition as a UK judge ruled that he does have a case to answer before the Indian courts.