Fugitive diamond merchant Mehul Choksi suffered a major legal blow on Tuesday after Belgium’s Supreme Court dismissed his appeal challenging the order that cleared the path for his extradition to India. The verdict strengthens India’s case and removes one of the last major barriers in the long-running extradition process.
The decision comes months after the Antwerp Court of Appeal upheld India’s extradition request and declared the order “enforceable”.
Choksi had moved the Court of Cassation in October, hoping to overturn the appellate court’s verdict, but Belgium’s top judicial body refused to intervene. The rejection marks a significant step forward for Indian authorities, who have been pursuing Choksi since he fled the country in 2018 after being named in the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan fraud case.
The fugitive businessman was arrested by Belgian authorities in Antwerp in April this year following a request from India. He has been lodged in prison since then, with Belgian courts repeatedly denying him bail over concerns that he may abscond again. His latest bail plea was rejected on the grounds that he posed a substantial flight risk.
In India, Choksi has been battling proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). He moved a special PMLA court through his lawyers Vijay Aggarwal, Rahul Agarwal and Jasmine Purani, seeking dismissal of the Enforcement Directorate’s plea to declare him a Fugitive Economic Offender (FEO). However, a special court in Mumbai recently rejected his application, allowing the ED’s proceedings to continue.
Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are the main accused in the Rs 13,000-crore PNB scam. Investigations by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) allege that the duo fraudulently obtained Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) and Foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs) from the bank’s Brady House branch in Mumbai by bribing officials. While Choksi remains in Belgian custody, Nirav Modi continues to fight extradition from the United Kingdom, where he is lodged in a London prison.
