Scandal-hit Choksi still in Antigua but ‘communication underway’

First published: 30 July 2018, at 4:26 pm

Indian fugitive Mehul Choksi is still in Antigua and Barbuda despite growing calls for him to be extradited to face fraud charges in his home country.

The businessman and another family member are accused of colluding with two employees of Punjab National Bank in fraud understood to have cost one of the country’s biggest lenders around US$1.8 billion.

The billionaire was granted an Antigua and Barbuda passport in November 2017 through the twin-island state’s citizenship by investment programme. This was just a matter of months before the criminal allegations were announced.

Choksi, 59, denies any wrongdoing. His lawyer confirmed on Friday that his client was in the Caribbean.

A well-placed source told WIC News this morning that:

• Talks are ongoing between both the foreign ministries in India and Antigua
• Other high-level talks are taking place between each nation’s prime minister, brokered by a Caribbean leader
• Choksi still has his Indian passport despite obtaining Antiguan citizenship earlier this year

Interpol is yet to issue a ‘red corner notice’ – in effect an international arrest warrant – so Choksi is free to travel. BusinessToday reports that Interpol may issue a notice shortly. NDTV is reporting that Indian’s High Commission in Georgetown, Guyana, that “as soon as the Ministry of External Affairs received information of the likely presence of Mehul Choksi in Antigua, the High Commission in Georgetown alerted the Antigua and Barbuda government, in writing and verbally, to confirm his presence in their territory and detain him and prevent his movement by land, air or sea.”

Discussions ‘at the highest level’

Choksi has previously refused to go home, with local reports quoting him as saying he feared a “mob lynching”.

A source has told WIC News that negotiations are ongoing about revoking his citizenship and extraditing the billionaire back to India.

Antigua-Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne is directly involved, the source added, and Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit is acting as meditator between the India and the Caribbean nation.

[caption id="attachment_5106" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Gaston Browne (file photo).[/caption]

Skerrit is known to have links with the Indian state, visiting the country in 2016 and hosting a government minister in May 2018.

Browne broke his silence on another of the country’s citizenship by investment scandals yesterday, admitting that investigations may mean Choksi is stripped of his Antiguan passport.

“My government will cooperate fully with the India government,” he sad.

“So on the basis that there are grounds for revocation [of citizenship], which I believe there are, certainly we would proceed with the revocation, but that in itself also must go through due process.”

There have been calls in some quarters for the full due diligence report into Choksi to be released to the public.

There appears to be conflicting information over the official nationality of

Mehul Choksi at present.

His Indian passport was revoked in February and the Indian constitution does not allow dual citizenship.

If the man at the centre of this scandal has renounced his original nationality, being stripped of his new Caribbean citizenship would leave him ‘stateless’.

Due diligence in focus – again

In a press release issued by his lawyers to local media earlier this week, Choksi “categorically” denied the accusations against him over what is India’s largest ever case of fraud.

“There is no truth in those allegations,” he added.

The retail tycoon also said that his reason for getting citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda was to further his “business interests in the Caribbean” and to take advantage of visa-free travel to a range of nations.

The fact that Choksi was able to obtain an Antigua-Barbuda passport just months before the Punjab National Bank scandal erupted has cast more negativity on the Caribbean state’s citizenship by investment programme in what has already been a difficult year.

The scheme’s due diligence has come under particular attack, with both experienced observers and the opposition in Antigua and Barbuda questioning how thorough the research and vetting system is if Choksi became a suspect so close to getting his passport.

In June 2017, Canada lifted a visa exemption for citizens of Antigua and Barbuda.

Prime Minister Gaston Browne confirmed that the move was related to concerns over the country’s citizenship by investment programme.

Industry leaders at the time spoke to WIC News and explained that issues in Antigua and Barbuda don’t reflect the whole Caribbean region.“At the time, the Canadian official said that a concern is that Antigua and Barbuda’s citizenship by investment programme is not a residency programme,” Browne said.

Last week, EP Chet Greene, Antigua-Barbuda’s foreign affairs and immigration minister, said: “If a request is received we will honour any legitimate request made of us notwithstanding that we do not have any extradition agreements with India.

“That is the extent of our commitment to preserving the integrity of our [citizenship by investment] programme.”