Mehul Choksi

  • Fugitive jeweller Mehul Choksi, key accused in the Rs-13,000-crore PNB loan fraud case, was arrested in Dominica. 
  • He illegally entered the country from Antigua, where he had been staying since 2018.  
  • Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said fugitive diamond merchant Mehul Choksi remains in the custody of Dominican authorities with certain legal proceedings underway, and asserted that all efforts will continue to be made to bring back fugitives to face justice in India. 
  • Antiguan PM Gaston Brown has told media that Choksi can be deported to India from Dominica itself, 
  • Choksi’s lawyers have argued that he cannot be sent back to India as he is not an Indian citizen anymore. 
  • Choksi acquired Antiguan citizenship in 2017, just over a month before he fled India in January 2018, and has even surrendered his Indian passport.
  • According to Section 9 of the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955, any Indian citizen who acquires foreign citizenship ceases to be an Indian citizen.
  • Interpol issued a Red Notice against Choksi for financial crimes committed in India.

CHARGES AGAINST CHOKSI

  • Choksi is facing criminal proceedings by both CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED). 
  • The CBI had first named Choksi and his firms including Gitanjali Gems along with others in 2018 based on a complaint received by Punjab National Bank (PNB) for alleged issuance of fraudulent Letters of Undertaking in their favour causing losses to the bank. 
  • The ED also subsequently filed a complaint alleging that Choksi and others were involved in money-laundering the proceeds of crime in overseas accounts. 
  • Choksi has been booked under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and other sections pertaining to cheating, criminal conspiracy of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. 
  • A similar case was also filed against Choksi’s nephew Nirav Modi alleging that they both colluded with some staffers of PNB to perpetrate the multi-crore fraud.
  • While a special court had declared Choksi’s nephew Nirav Modi a ‘fugitive economic offender’ in December 2019, the proceedings on a similar plea against Choksi has been stayed by the Bombay High Court. 



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