Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi accused in Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank fraud has applied for bail once again in the Dominica High Court in connection with his illegal entry into the country. Choksi has been denied relief in the same matter on two prior occasions. The hearing on Choksi’s bail plea will likely take place on July 6.
Earlier in June, Choksi’s bail application was rejected by a Dominican magistrate’s court, following which he had moved Dominica High Court. The upper court, too, denied bail to the Indian businessman on the grounds that he is a ‘flight risk’.
For the uninitiated, Choksi mysteriously went missing on May 23 from Antigua and Barbuda where he had been staying since 2018 as a citizen, after he fled India weeks before PNB scam came to light. He was later detained in neighbouring Dominica for illegal entry and deemed to be a prohibited immigrant. The diamantaire claims he was forcefully abducted and brought to the Caribbean island nation.
Meanwhile, earlier this week, Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has dismissed the claims that his government was involved in Mehul Choksi’s abduction from neighbouring Antigua and Barbuda. Dominica PM said his government will allow the court to carry out its process regarding Choksi and gave the assurance that his rights will be respected, Antigua News Room reported, citing Dominica News Online.
Skerrit also refuted the allegations of a plot between the Indian and the Dominican government to abduct Choksi from Antigua.
“To say that the government of Dominica and the government of Antigua along with India colluded in any way, give me a break, that’s total nonsense. We don’t get involved ourselves in those kinds of activities, those practices, not at all. I mean that is absurd and we reject it and it is unfortunate that anybody would want to propagate this unsubstantiated claim by a gentleman who is before the courts,” Skerrit was quoted as saying by Dominica News Online.
Choksi’s team has been claiming that the fugitive businessman belongs to Antigua as he acquired citizenship of that island in 2018. Meanwhile, Indian authorities told the Dominica High Court in their affidavit that Choksi is an Indian citizen and noted that he is erroneously claiming renunciation of citizenship under the Citizenship Act, 1955. The 62-year-old Choksi is wanted in India in connection with the Rs 13,500 crore fraud in the Punjab National Bank case.
