NEW DELHI: In a major setback to fugitive diamond trader Mehul Choksi, his bail plea has again been turned down by a court of appeal in Belgium just ahead of his extradition hearing in that country, officials in the Indian agencies following up the matter said on Saturday.
Choksi is wanted in India by probe agencies – the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate – in a case relating to over Rs 6,300-crore alleged fraud in the Punjab National Bank (PNB).
According to officials, the court rejected the appeal on strong reasons conveyed by the CBI to the Belgian prosecution authorities that Choksi had escaped from many jurisdictions earlier as well to evade legal proceedings and may flee to another country if let out on bail.
In April this year, Choksi was arrested in Belgium following an extradition request sent by the CBI, they said, adding that his earlier bail application, heard by the Court of Cassation in Belgium, was also rejected.
Choksi filed another bail application on August 22 and offered to be under house arrest and remain under surveillance at home, but the court of appeal rejected it earlier this week, the officials said.
The arguments as part of the extradition hearing against 66-year-old Choksi, the owner of Gitanjali Group, would be taken up in a court in Belgium in mid-September, they said, adding that the CBI is going to assist the Belgian prosecution authorities in putting forth a strong case to send him back to India to face trial in the cases against him.
Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted in the Rs 13,000 crore PNB bank fraud case that they allegedly orchestrated through fraudulent Letters of Undertaking in connivance with some bank officials at the Brady House branch in Mumbai.
Modi, declared a fugitive economic offender, has also been lodged in a London jail since he was held by the authorities there in 2019 on the basis of a legal request made by the ED and the CBI in connection with the case, and he is also contesting his extradition to India.
The CBI had sent a team of officials to Brussels, who provided details of the case, evidence and documents to the Belgian prosecution, who will be presenting the case in the court there, as the Indian probe agency is also set to hire a European law firm to assist in the case, the officials said.
Choksi is facing cases under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) related to criminal conspiracy, cheating and falsification of accounts, besides provisions of Prevention of Corruption, which also constitute crimes in Belgium and thus making it easy for the agencies to invoke the dual criminality clause of the extradition treaty while seeking his deportation from there, the officials said.
The CBI has also invoked the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC) and the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in its extradition request, the officials noted.
