Mehul Choksi flees to Cuba owing to fear of extradition to India in PNB scam case: Report

Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi has fled to Cuba from Antigua and Barbuda owing to the fear of being extradited to India in the PNB scam case, a media report claimed. Caribbean news outlet Associate Times quoted his close aide Govin as saying that he left the island nation a few days ago and is currently living in a safe house at an undisclosed location in Cuba. Claiming that the PNB scam accused also holds the citizenship of another Caribbean country, he attributed Choksi's latest move to the government of Antigua and Barbuda initiating the process to revoke his citizenship.

Speaking to Republic TV subsequently, Choksi's lawyer Vijay Aggarwal rubbished this claim and asserted that it was not possible for him to leave Antigua and Barbuda owing to the Red Corner Notice issued against him. This comes even as the local police have launched a manhunt for the fugitive who purportedly went "missing" after going out for dinner in the Antigua island on May 23.  While his vehicle was discovered in Jolly Harbour later, there was no trace of him. 

Speaking to the media earlier, Aggarwal claimed, "Mehul Choksi is missing. His family members are worried and anxious and had called me to discuss. Antigua police is investigating. The family is in the dark and worried about his safety". 

Mehul Choksi's legal woes

Mehul Choksi is under the scanner of both the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate. Along with his nephew Nirav Modi, he has been accused of allegedly siphoning off Rs 13,500 crore of public money from the Punjab National Bank (PNB), using letters of undertaking. Owner of the Gitanjali group, a retail jewellery company, Choksi secured the citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in November 2017 under the aegis of the Citizenship by Investment Programme and fled to the island nation in the first week of January 2018.

India formally sought Choksi's extradition in August 2018 underlining the principle of reciprocity, the principle of dual criminality, and the United Nations Convention against Corruption to which both countries are signatories. In 2019, Antigua and Barbuda PM Gaston Browne was quoted as saying that the citizenship of Mehul Choksi will be revoked and will be extradited to India once all his legal options are exhausted. The current legal status of the fugitive diamantaire is shrouded in mystery as Aggarwal maintained that the PNB scam accused remains a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda. 

Spelling more trouble for him, Nirav Modi's extradition to India was ordered by the Westminster Magistrates’ Court on February 25. District Judge Samuel Goozee expressed satisfaction that Modi can be convicted and dismissed concerns about the mental health of the accused. Moreover, the judge said that there is no evidence to suggest that the fugitive diamond merchant will not receive justice if he is extradited to India.