NEW DELHI: The lawyer of absconding businessman Mehul Choksi, who is an accused in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam, has told The Sunday Guardian that no process to extradite him to India has begun.
Speaking to The Sunday Guardian from Antigua and Barbuda on Saturday evening, David Dorsett, Choski’s lawyer, termed the news of his client’s extradition as “incorrect”.
“This is incorrect. No extradition proceedings have begun as far as I am aware. Mr Choksi has challenged the constitutionality of certain sections of the Extradition Act and the matter is still going on in the court,” Dorsett said.
Earlier this week, Choksi had surrendered his Indian passport to the Indian High Commission in Guyana, following which the government had stated that it was pursuing his extradition from Antigua and Barbuda through diplomatic and legal channels.
Quoting government sources, Indian media on Saturday had reported that Indian agencies had commissioned a long-range Air India Boeing to bring back Choksi. According to these reports, officials from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) were flying to bring back the absconder from the Caribbean country. No “absconder” was named in these reports.
In July last year, the Antiguan authorities had confirmed that Choksi was residing in the Caribbean islands and that he had obtained his Antiguan citizenship in November 2017, months before the PNB scandal broke out. Choksi had fled India in January 2018.
As per the statement of the Antiguan government, Choksi had taken citizenship through “investment” and it was provided to him after “extensive” vetting and his application was subject to “robust due diligence and international investigation”.
Choksi’s lawyer, David Dorsett has filed a suit against the Antiguan minister responsible for citizenship and the minister responsible for Ministry of External Affairs of Antigua after which the matter first came up for hearing on 14 November at High Court before Justice Rita Joseph Olivetti, and then on 12 December.
According to him, the Antiguan government has presently given an undertaking to the court that they will not proceed with any matter relating to Choksi’s extradition until the legal issues that have been raised by Choksi were resolved.