Mehul Choksi held in Belgium, India to seek extradition
A team from CBI is expected to travel to Antwerp in a week’s time and discuss extradition proceedings with the Belgian ministry of justice office bearers
Nine months after Mehul Choksi was located by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Belgium, authorities in Antwerp arrested the fugitive diamantaire on Saturday based on a formal request from the Indian government, people familiar with the development said on Monday, terming it a major breakthrough in a $2 billion fraud perpetrated on Punjab National Bank (PNB).
Top officials told HT that the Belgian government issued an “order of arrest” for Choksi on November 25 last year , but that the process took time because he is undergoing medical treatment.
A team from CBI is expected to travel to Antwerp in a week’s time and discuss extradition proceedings with the Belgian ministry of justice office bearers. India has an extradition treaty with Belgium.
Choksi, 65, was arrested by the authorities in Antwerp on April 12 and is in their custody currently, said a CBI officer who asked not to be named. A hearing on his arrest will take place in four to five days before the Antwerp Court of First Instance, which will decide if he has to be kept in custody or released on bail, added this person, who didn’t want to be named.
Sharing details of the operation that led to Choksi’s capture, this officer said : “We located Choksi in Belgium in July 2024 after receiving information that he had travelled there from Antigua and Barbuda (where he is a citizen) for medical treatment. A formal extradition request was sent to Belgium on August 27, 2024, based on two arrest warrants issued by a Mumbai court against him, on May 23, 2018, and June 15, 2021, as well as charge sheets filed against him in PNB fraud”.
The federal agency also sent its team to Belgium last year twice to convince the authorities there.
The Belgian federal public service of justice said on Monday that Choksi is being detained in “anticipation of further judicial proceedings”.
The office, which is the equivalent of the justice ministry, confirmed the arrest and the receipt of an extradition request for Choksi from Indian authorities.
“He [Choksi] is being detained in anticipation of further judicial proceedings. Access to his legal counsel has been assured,” the federal public service of justice told HT.
The “Belgian federal public service of Justice can confirm that the Indian authorities have introduced an extradition request for Mr Choksi. As is standard in individual cases, no further details can be released at this stage,” it said.
A spokesperson for the Belgian office of public prosecution said Choksi was arrested in Antwerp. “We can confirm that Mr Choksi was arrested in Antwerp last Saturday at our request,” the spokesperson said without giving details.
The extradition, a second CBI officer said, has been sought under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections – 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 201 (destruction of evidence), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 477A (falsification of accounts), and sections 7 and 13 (bribery) of the prevention of corruption act.
CBI has also invoked the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) and United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in its extradition request, the second officer added, asking not to be named.
The Belgian government examined India’s request at various levels and approved initiating action in the matter after it was convinced about the “dual criminality” clause in the 1901 extradition treaty between two countries.
“The prosecutors in Belgium certified that Indian charges are punishable crimes in Belgium as well,” said a third CBI officer familiar with the development.
Subsequently, an “order of arrest” for Choksi was issued by the Belgian prosecutors on November 25, 2024, he added on condition of anonymity.
This officer further said that a CBI team would travel to assist the prosecutors in Antwerp and push for keeping him in custody for extradition proceedings.
Choksi’s lawyer, Vijay Aggarwal said they would challenge the arrest and India’s extradition request on health grounds. “Choksi is not a flight risk. We will follow the procedure to file an appeal to release him since he has multiple complications for which he came to Belgium to get treatment. We will argue that he should be permitted to defend himself and oppose the extradition request while not being in custody.”
Choksi has evaded the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) - which is conducting a parallel money laundering probe - since 2018. After fleeing from India in January 2018, he acquired the citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda and was living there until July last year with his wife Priti Choksi, who has also been named as accused by the ED.
An Interpol red notice was issued against him in 2018 but was later withdrawn by the global policy body in November 2022 after Choksi approached it alleging his abduction from Antigua and Barbuda by Indian agents in May 2021. Choksi alleged that he was abducted by Indian agents from Antigua and was taken in a yacht to Dominica on May 23, 2021.
After he was found in Dominica the next day, the Indian government flew in a team of investigators to the country on May 28, 2021 hoping to secure his deportation from the island, where he was not a citizen, but Choksi filed a petition in the Dominica high court alleging abduction and torture.
Prosecutors appearing for India filed an official request in Dominica in the first week of June 2021, alleging that Choksi was the mastermind of a ₹13,578 crore loan fraud and owed ₹7,080 crore ($952 million) to the state-owned Punjab National Bank. It sought to declare him an Indian citizen and deport him to India.
His capture caused a political storm in the Caribbean with opposition parties accusing governments of Dominica and Antigua & Barbuda of colluding with India to allegedly abduct the businessman. Antigua Royal police launched an investigation into the abduction based on Choksi’s lawyers’ complaint. The findings of Antigua police mirrored Choksi’s allegations.
Dominica, which initiated illegal entry proceedings against Choksi withdrew its case and sent him back to Antigua on July 15, 2021.
Other than the PNB fraud, in which his nephew Nirav Modi is also accused (he is currently lodged in a UK prison), CBI had filed three more cases Mehul Choksi in 2022 for allegedly cheating several banks including Punjab National Bank and ICICI Bank of ₹6,746 crore.
ED, which is conducting a parallel money laundering probe against Choksi, has already attached his properties and initiated restitution of those properties worth over ₹2,500 crore.
While CBI filed two charge sheets against Choksi, ED has filed three charge sheets. ED has also initiated proceedings against Choksi under fugitive economic offenders’ act (FEOA), which will allow it to seize his properties abroad.
(With inputs from Rezaul H Laskar )
