New Delhi, May 25 :
Five-feet six-inches tall, heavily built, brown in complexion, a balding hairline and of Indian descent is how the Antigua and Barbuda Police described 62-year-old Mehul Choksi of Jolly Harbour who went missing in the evening on May 23.It was no ordinary case as India is pursuing an extradition case against Choksi, a prime accused in the multi-crore PNB Bank scam. Choksi is wanted by Indian investigating agencies after he fled India in 2018 to take shelter in the island nation. Choksi’s disappearance comes close on the heels of Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Alfonso Browne thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his ”act of benevolence” in generously sending COVID-19 vaccines to the Caribbean countries. In March, Browne said he is “overwhelmed” by
As Mehul Choksi
India’s assistance and will continue to work towards strengthening the bilateral relations with their “significant development partner”. In April, he wrote to Modi again, saying they are praying for India’s recovery from the second wave of COVID-19 and stands in solidarity with the country.
Top sources in the investigating agencies said Choksi is evading arrest and they have taken note of his sudden disappearance. “We are pursing the matter with the Ministry of External Affairs,” said an official. The MEA is in touch with the High Commission in Georgetown in Guyana, which also oversees relations with Antigua and Barbuda. The High Commission has been asking the local authorities to detain Choksi since the first time the fugitive diamantaire set foot there, but Choksi has managed to evade action by taking legal recourse.
History seems to be repeating itself, only this time Choksi has not entered but left the country.
Speaking to THE WEEK, Vijay Agarawal, Choksi’s lawyer, said, ”His missing reports are genuine. Otherwise, there was no legal risk to Mehul Choksi in Antigua as upon challenge to the vires of the Antiguan Extradition Act and Citizenship Act, there is a stay in favour of Choksi about proceedings of any request from India.”
Choksi was granted citizenship by the Caribbean island nation even as the CBI and Enforcement Directorate are pursuing his extradition case with the authorities.
”The extradition case does not end here. We will continue to pursue the matter,” said an official involved in the investigation. The Antigua government had recently sought to revoke or cancel his citizenship, but Choksi has gone to court on the issue, which can delay matters further.
Sources said the issue has got further complicated after the Indian agencies have failed to get the tag of a fugitive economic offender (FEO) against Choksi so far. This means that Choksi is officially not a “fugitive economic offender” yet.
His lawyers had managed to get a stay on the matter in the Bombay High Court in 2020. “The legal delays in the case and Choksi managing to evade the FEO tag hampers action by investigators,” said a government official.
This is a setback in the investigations since the FEO Act makes it possible for sleuths to confiscate Choksi’s properties abroad.
But ED sources said they can still confiscate his assets under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. ”We have already confiscated many of his assets, but Choksi has been trying to evade the law. He faces criminal charges and we will take all action to bring him back,” said an official.
Choksi, who has been living in Antigua with his wife, was reported missing after he left home in a motorcar on May 23, which has since been recovered. The local police is seeking assistance of the public in trying to ascertain his whereabouts after they failed to trace him during the searches. Unconfirmed reports said he left for Cuba.
Choksi is the uncle of Nirav Modi, the main accused in the PNB scam, who is fighting an extradition case in the UK.
In 2019, THE WEEK spoke to Choksi in Antigua where he said that he had ceased to be an Indian citizen and he was willing to return to India only if he is promised a fair trial.
”I am in Antigua. I had gone out of India on January 4 [2018], and was supposed to return on January 20. I was in New York, when suddenly on my way back, I developed health problems and my family insisted that I stay there and get some tests done,” he had said. His stay became longer as he claimed to have been advised by doctors not to travel for long.
”Antigua offers free travel to 130 countries, so I moved an application in January 2017 for Antiguan citizenship, which got cleared by October 2017. So, the fact is that I had applied for the citizenship of Antigua much before the CBI registered a case against me on January 31, 2018,” he had said.
Choksi said he isn’t responsible for the multi-crore losses in the PNB case as the bankers did not put the financial data in the centralised system and because it is a state-owned bank, the ultimate responsibility lies with the government. ”I have suddenly become the poster boy of corruption. Today, all my businesses are shut down and I am in dire straits financially.”
