Antigua and Barbuda’s ‘Supreme Court’ to hear his case on 17 June.
New Delhi: The wait to extradite Mehul Choksi, one of the prime accused in the multi-thousand crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam, has become even longer for the Indian agencies.
Choksi, who had taken the citizenship of the Caribbean nation Antigua and Barbuda months before fleeing from India in January 2018, is likely to move the Privy Council, which is the country’s highest court and higher than the “Supreme Court”, to challenge his extradition, sources have told The Sunday Guardian.
Sources said that Choksi’s hearing before the country’s “Supreme Court”, in which he has challenged the decision of the “High Court” which denied his request for an independent expert witness in his defence, is scheduled for 17 June.
Depending on what the “Supreme Court” decides on 17 June, Choksi will challenge its order if it upholds the decision of the “High Court”, in front of the Privy Council.
If the “Supreme Court” allows the introduction of the independent witness, the case will be heard again in the “High Court”, which will again lead to more time being spent in the case.
Choksi’s legal team had earlier told The Sunday Guardian that “there was no truth in the allegations leveled against Choksi by the Indian authorities and that he was a victim of political prosecution”.
In 2018, Choksi’s legal team had filed a suit against the Antiguan minister responsible for citizenship and the minister responsible for External Affairs, challenging the “proposed move” to extradite him.
They had also sought to introduce an independent expert in Indian law in front of the court.
His case had first come up for hearing on 14 November 2018 at the “High Court” before Justice Rita Joseph Olivetti and then on 12 December 2018, on which date the “High Court” ruled against his request to introduce the independent expert. Following this, he had challenged this decision in the “Supreme Court”.
His legal team has challenged Section 9(4) of Antigua & Barbuda’s Extradition Act 1993, stating that it gave the Minister of Foreign Affairs virtually unlimited discretion to issue an authority to proceed.
As of now, Choksi is in “safe hands” as the Antiguan government has given an undertaking to the court that they will not proceed with any matter relating to Choksi’s extradition until the legal issues have been decided by the courts.