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The move poses another hurdle to bring home Mehul Choksi of India and try to prosecute him in the largest case of bank fraud.
A Dominican court has barred local authorities from removing fugitive jeweler Mehul Choksi from the country, bringing another hurdle to bring him home to New Delhi and prosecute him in India’s biggest bank fraud case.
Choksi, who was born in India, was captured in Dominica earlier this week after disappearing from the Caribbean nation of Antigua on Sunday, prompting a worldwide hunt.
He lived in Antigua and obtained a passport there, after fleeing India before the fraud was clarified. He is one of the main defendants in the case.
After Choksi was arrested, Antigua refused to take him back.
Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua and Barbuda told Reuters news partner ANI that he is in talks with Dominicans and Indian governments to return home to India.
Following a court order blocking the repatriation after Choksik filed a habeas corpus application, he determined whether the arrest was lawful, against Dominican authorities, his Indian lawyer Vijay Aggarwal told Reuters.
Aggarwal said the court had given Choxi permission to obtain legal aid, adding that the case would be heard on Friday.
The Indian Federal Police have filed a fraud charge against Choksi, his nephew, Nirav Modi and others, allegedly for the Punjab National Bank of India (which resulted in losses of around $ 2 billion in fraudulent transactions).
The PNB complained in 2018 that some malicious employees had been giving fake bank guarantees for several years to help jewelry groups controlled by Modi and Choksi raise funds in foreign loans.
Modi and Choksi traveled abroad in January 2018 and have not returned since. They both refused to do anything wrong.
Modi was arrested in London in 2019 and is fighting extradition to India while New Delhi is pushing for his extradition from Choksi Antigua and Barbuda.
Shortly after Choksik left India in 2018, he emerged in Antigua and Barbuda, where he gained citizenship. He mysteriously disappeared on Sunday, after which Antigua police asked Interpol to issue a global alert.
Choksi was then arrested in nearby Dominica.
“He was arrested by police in northern Dominica. Since the area has no airport, we believe he used a boat to enter the Dominican Republic illegally, ”a Dominican police spokesman told the Indian News18 channel.
According to News18, police said they saw Choksi on the beach in Canefield, Roseau, Dominica, throwing documents into the sea.
The police on guard at the beach found his actions suspicious. He was first interrogated and then arrested.
“We have asked the Dominican government to arrest them for illegally entering their country … and deport them directly to India,” Brown told News18.
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