An Indian team, led by additional secretary in the MEA Manpreet Vohra, met Antiguan officials in that country and filed a formal request to extradite diamantaire Mehul Choksi, a prime accused in the PNB scam who has acquired citizenship of the Caribbean nation. Choksi and his nephew, Nirav Modi, are wanted in the Rs 13,000 crore PNB bank fraud case. According to reports, Antiguan authorities cleared his citizenship in November 2017 after India gave an all-clear on his passport application. Questions are now being raised about how there was no adverse observation.
Choksi had fled India on January 4 and took citizenship of Antigua on January 15. Choksi’s application for Antiguan citizenship in May 2017 was accompanied by a clearance certificate from the Mumbai police, according to media reports in Antigua.
Antigua blames India for Choksi citizenship
Antigua and Barbuda blamed Indian authorities, including market regulator Sebi and CBI, for not raising a red flag on Mehul Choksi when he applied for citizenship last year, but India debunked the Caribbean nation’s claim and asked it to extradite the diamantaire on the principles of “reciprocity and dual criminality”.
In a statement issued on Thursday night, Antigua’s citizenship by investment unit (CIU) said when Choksi applied for citizenship in May 2017, he provided a “police clearance certificate as required by Section 5(2)(b) of Antigua and Barbuda Citizenship by Investment Act 2013”. The certificate, issued by the regional passport office, Mumbai, certified that “there was no adverse information against Mehul Chinubhai Choksi which would render him ineligible for grant of travel facilities including visa for Antigua and Barbuda”, CIU said on a day India moved to seek extradition of Choksi, thus meeting a crucial condition Antiguan PM Gaston Browne had put on Monday in response to India’s demand to send back the fugitive diamond trader.
Browne told V Mahalingam, Indian high commissioner to Guyana who also looks after the country’s interests in Antigua, that since Choksi was now an Antiguan national, India’s insistence that he be sent back to face the law could be met only if a request for his extradition was made. Even as Congress quickly pounced on the claim of the Antiguan agency to allege collusion between the Modi government and the jeweller, the foreign ministry pointed out that the police clearance was issued to Choksi by the RPO Mumbai on March 16, 2017, i.e. two months before he applied for residence in Antigua, and was based on the police verification report available on his passport.
RPOs are authorised to issue PCC to any person whose PVR is clear in the system, sources said, emphasising that the “clearance certificate” was issued at least year before the PNB scam involving Choksi and Nirav Modi broke in February 2018.
Choksi took Antiguan citizenship in Nov 2017
However, it issuspected that Choksi got the PCC from the RPO himself and submitted it along with his application as it was not clear whether CIU had directly contacted the Mumbai RPO. Choksi took Antiguan citizenship in November 2017 and was administered the oath of allegiance on January 15. Sources also referred to the CIU statement to say that the authorities in Antigua had acknowledged that the PCC was sought and given for “travel facilities including visa for Antigua and Barbuda”.
The CIU, which seemed to keen to emphasise that it had not overlooked any criminal charge against Choksi while admitting his application for citizenship, also claimed that they had approached the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to verify Choksi’s credentials, inviting a rebuttal from the market regulator. The Antiguan agency claimed it was informed by Sebi that while it had opened two investigations against Choksi, one in 2014 and another in 2017, the first probe was “satisfactorily closed” while the second was “dropped for lack of evidence”.
“Sebi has neither received any request from the CIU of Antigua for updates on any investigation nor provided any such information to CIU,” the regulator said on Friday. Significantly, CIU also emphasised that the allegations against Choksi probed by Sebi were not the “subject of of the current warrants issued by CBI in connection with Punjab National Bank”. CBI also rebutted CIU’s claim that it had approached the Indian investigating agency for a background check on Choksi. Faced with the denial, the Antiguans argued that they had contacted Interpol which should have been aware of any pending case against Choksi.
“The CIU maintains that its background investigations include Interpol. Were there an active warrant for Choksi at the time his citizenship application was being processed, this information would have already been made available to Interpol, a notification of which would have been readily accessible to CIU and its due diligence partners. Further, the warrant should have formed a part of the criminal records database in India and therefore declared in the police clearance certificate issued by the MEA,” it said.
CBI sources made light of the disclaimer and said it was stating the obvious
EDITED
An Indian team, led by additional secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs Manpreet Vohra, met Antiguan officials in the country and filed a formal request to extradite diamantaire Mehul Choksi, a prime accused in the PNB scam. Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted in the £1.30 billion PNB bank fraud case. Reports said, Antiguan authorities cleared his citizenship in November 2017 after India gave an all-clear on his passport application.
Choksi had fled India on January 4 and taken citizenship of Antigua on January 15. His application for Antiguan citizenship in May 2017 was accompanied by a clearance certificate from the Mumbai police, as per media reports in Antigua. Meanwhile, Antigua and Barbuda blamed Indian authorities, including market regulator Sebi and CBI, for not raising a red flag on Choksi when he applied for citizenship last year. However, India debunked the claim and asked it to extradite the diamantaire on the principles of “reciprocity and dual criminality”.
Antigua's citizenship by investment unit (CIU) issued a statement saying when Choksi applied for citizenship in May 2017, he provided a “police clearance certificate as required by Section 5(2)(b) of Antigua and Barbuda Citizenship by Investment Act 2013.” Issued by the regional passport office in Mumbai, the certificate stated that “there was no adverse information against Mehul Chinubhai Choksi which would render him ineligible for grant of travel facilities including visa for Antigua and Barbuda,” the CIU said.
Antiguan Prime Minister Gaston Browne told Indian High Commissioner to Guyana, V Mahalingam, who also looks after the country's interests in Antigua, that since Choksi was now an Antiguan national, India's insistence that he be sent back to face the law could be met only if a request for his extradition was made.
