Choksi gets bail in Dominica
A DOMINICAN COURT on Monday (12) granted bail to Mehul Choksi on medical grounds, fewer than two months after the fugitive jeweller –wanted in India’s largest bank fraud case was detained for illegal entry into the Caribbean nation.
The court allowed Choksi to travel to Antigua for the cure of a neurological disorder that has no available treatment in Dominica, his lawyer Vijay Aggarwal told reporters.
“He has to come back and face his cases,” Aggarwal said, adding that proceedings against him have been adjourned until he is certified fit to travel.
Choksi, born in India, was captured in Dominica in May, days after going missing from Antigua, which triggered a global manhunt.
One of the main defendants in the $2 billion (£1.4bn) fraud at Punjab National Bank (PNB), Choksi had been living in Antigua and Barbuda after fleeing India before the fraud came to light.
Although Choksi secured a passport in Antigua, an Indian official said in 2019 that India still considered him its citizen and the government was pushing for his extradition.
Choksi’s legal team claimed he was kidnapped and forcefully taken to Dominica from where he was to be “whisked away to India bypassing the proper legal processes in Antigua and Dominica.”
Indian federal police filed fraud charges against Choksi, his nephew, Nirav Modi, and others in connection with their suspected involvement in fraudulent transactions that led to losses of about $2bn for PNB. It alleged in 2018 a few rogue employees had issued fake bank guarantees over several years to help jewellery groups controlled by Modi and Choksi to raise funds in foreign credit.
Both Modi and Choksi have denied wrongdoing. Modi was arrested in London in 2019 and is fighting extradition.