New Delhi: According to reports, Belgian law enforcement officials detained fugitive Indian billionaire Mehul Choksi at the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) request.
Sources claim that once local police verified Choksi’s presence in Belgium, he was taken into custody on Saturday. Additionally, according to the sources, plans were on to extradite him to India.
Choksi is presently getting ready for a court fight, however. His defence team says it will fight his extradition and intends to apply for bail.
Choksi has compelling grounds to contest the extradition request, according to the legal team, who also point to his physical condition.
The CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) are looking for the 65-year-old fugitive diamond dealer who fled India on January 2, 2018, on suspicion of cheating PNB of Rs 13,850 crore. He was also complicit in the scam alongside his nephew, Nirav Modi.
After fleeing India, he first went to the US before relocating to Antigua. Choksi obtained Antiguan citizenship before departing India in 2017. He was then detained in Dominica for reportedly attempting to escape to Cuba, despite his lawyer’s assertion that he had been abducted from Antigua.
India filed a request for extradition before the court, but Dominica sent him back to Antigua. According to reports, he departed Dominica to have cancer treatment in Belgium.
From 2014 to 2017, Choksi conspired with his colleagues and other Punjab National Bank (PNB) personnel to acquire Letters of Undertaking and Foreign Letters of Credit from PNB unlawfully. As a consequence, PNB suffered an unjustified loss of Rs. 6097.63 crore.
The ED searched over 136 sites throughout India during the inquiry and found jewellery and valuables belonging to Mehul Choksi’s Gitanjali Group valued at Rs. 597.75 crore.
Additionally, Mehul Choksi and Gitanjali Group’s immovable and moveable assets totalling Rs 1968.15 crore were attached. These included jewellery, cars, bank accounts, a factory, shares of publicly traded firms, and immovable properties in India and abroad. In this instance, three prosecution complaints have been filed, and assets totalling Rs. 2565.90 crore were confiscated or attached.
Mehul Choksi, a wanted businessman, and his wife, Preeti Choksi, were granted an F Residency Card in Belgium two weeks ago. Both Choksi’s extended family and Preeti, a Belgian national, have relatives there.
The pair moved from Antigua to Belgium in 2024. In May 2019, Nirav Modi, Choksi’s nephew, was taken into custody by London’s Metropolitan Police. Modi remains in a UK prison after having used up all legal options for extradition.
Mehul and Preeti Choksi may be thinking about relocating to Geneva, according to earlier claims from Antiguan media.
Choksi’s lawyer told a special court in Mumbai earlier this year that he is presently receiving treatment for blood cancer in Antwerp, Belgium. Interpol cancelled the Red Notice against Choksi in March 2023.
