Wife says Choksi being treated as a criminal

Priti Choksi, the wife of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, has said that her husband is treated as a criminal in Antigua because of statements made by prime minister Gaston Browne in the past, and that she fears for his life if he is sent back to India.

Terming her husband’s custody in Dominica as a “hostage situation”, she said the Antiguan government should be focusing on bringing its citizen back.

Both jewellers involved in the fraud on Punjab National Bank, Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi, moved their families outside India and then made good their own escape. Nirav Modi is currently fighting extradition proceedings in the UK.

“We, as a family, are deeply anguished by PM Gaston Browne’s statements. My husband is treated as a criminal here (Antigua) because of the statements that Mr Gaston Browne has made in the past of calling him a ‘crook’, etc.; and on what basis, I have no idea. A man who was trying to live his life quietly is being targeted in this manner,” Priti told HT over the phone from Saint John’s.

Explaining the sequence of events on May 23, she said Choksi went to meet Barbara Jarabica for dinner.

“When he reached her house to pick her up, she asked him to come inside, saying she wanted to show him something. It was the day time so my husband went inside.