Mehul Choksi denied bail by Dominica magistrate
NEW DELHI: A magistrate’s court in Dominica has denied bail to Mehul Choksi after the Caribbean country’s state attorney cited the 11 cases in India and extradition proceedings the fugitive diamantaire faces in Antigua and Barbuda and said he could be a flight risk, the local media reported. The matter was adjourned to June 14 when the illegal entry matter against Choksi will be heard.
Sherma Dalrymple, the state attorney, told the magistrate on Wednesday that Choksi entered Dominica illegally on May 21 while listing the charge regarding this against the fugitive. Choksi’s family and lawyers have maintained he went missing from Antigua on May 23. Dominican government’s claim that he entered the country two earlier than what his family claimed has raised further questions on the circumstances under which he actually reached the island.
NEW DELHI: A Dominica magistrate has denied bail to absconding diamond tycoon Mehul Choksi, who was arrested on May 23 for alleged illegal entry to the Caribbean island country, the local media reported.
Choksi, wanted here in connection with a ₹13,500-crore fraud in the Punjab National Bank (PNB), pleaded before the magistrate that he was abducted and forcibly brought to Dominica from neighbouring Antigua and Barbuda, about 100 nautical miles away, Dominica News Online reported.
The 62-year-old wheelchairbound diamantaire, who has a pending Interpol Red Corner Notice (RCN) against him, arrived before the presiding Roseau Magistrate Court in a black pair of shorts and a blue
T-shirt from the Dominica China Friendship Hospital, where he is undergoing treatment.
The Dominica High Court, which was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by Choksi, had ordered him to be presented before the magistrate to face charges of illegal entry.
A habeas corpus petition is filed for producing before a court a person who is under arrest or in unlawful detention.
“Our stand that Mehul Choksi is in illegal detention as he was required to be produced within 72 hours before the magistrate and was not so produced has been vindicated. In order to remedy this, he has been asked to be produced before the magistrate. This establishes the illegal detention of Choksi as pleaded by the defence. Contrary to numerous media reports, there was no discussion regarding the Government of India,” Choksi’s lawyer Vijay Aggarwal said here.
During the hearing before
Magistrate Candia Carrette-George, the Dominica prosecution cited two main arguments to keep Choksi under detention -the RCN against him and the ongoing extradition proceedings in the courts of Antigua and Barbuda, where he is staying since 2018 after leaving India.
Prosecutor Sherma Dalrymple told the court that Choksi is a “flight risk” and does not have any ties in Dominica that prevent him from fleeing the country if bail is granted.
Defence counsel Wayne Norde said Choksi was not a flight risk considering his health and the pending extradition proceedings in Antigua and Barbuda were also a reason for him not to leave Dominica.
Offering to pay a bail amount of ECD 10,000, double the fine amount for illegal entry to Dominica, Norde said Choksi did not have any criminal case in Antigua and Barbuda and the proceedings against him were civil in nature, which shows that he is a a man of good character.
The lawyer said the new bail act says a defendant is entitled to the relief as a right unless the offence is of a serious nature.
In her order, the magistrate said considering the “severity” of the matter, she is not convinced that Choksi will stay in the country to face legal proceedings and adjourned the matter till June 14.