After the arrest of fugitive Indian businessman Mehul Choksi in Belgium, his legal team is preparing to file an appeal for release from custody, citing his deteriorating health and ongoing cancer treatment as the primary reasons.
Choksi was arrested on Saturday after local Belgian authorities confirmed his presence in the country. According to sources, preparations are underway for his extradition to India. However, Choksi’s legal defence has already begun building a case against the extradition request.
Speaking to media in Delhi, Choksi’s lawyer, Vijay Aggarwal, said,
“My client, Mehul Choksi, has been arrested in Belgium, and at the moment, he is in custody. We will be starting the process of filing an appeal against this, and then, as a process of appeal, we will be requesting that he be pulled out of prison. The major ground for the plea is his ill health and that he is undergoing cancer treatment, and of course, he is not a flight risk at all.”
Aggarwal explained that extradition is a multi-step legal process and that the team intends to present several arguments in court.
“There is no push. It is a process. Non-bailable warrants have been issued against him since 2018. It is a prerequisite for extradition that there has to be an open-ended, non-bailable warrant. Earlier, they tried to pick him up from Dominica, where they failed. So then, by the Dominican court order, my client was getting his treatment in Antigua. For his medical treatment, he had to go to Belgium, and he has been there getting his treatment for the cancer.”
He added,
“Arrest is a process. Whenever for any country, there is an extradition request made by another country wherein they have a treaty. First of all, the person has to be arrested, then the person has to show that he’s got community ties, and then we have to show that he is not a flight risk and that there is a medical condition. So that’s the only ground.”
Choksi, now 65 years old, fled India on January 2, 2018, and is wanted by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for allegedly defrauding Punjab National Bank (PNB) of Rs 13,850 crore. His nephew, Nirav Modi, is also implicated in the high-profile banking fraud.
Meanwhile, PNB scam whistle-blower Hariprasad SV has warned that extraditing Choksi will not be easy.
“Extradition is not an easy task. Choksi’s wallet is full, and he will employ the best lawyers in Europe to avoid the process like what Vijay Mallya has been doing. I don’t think it is going to be easy for India to get him back,” he told media.
Hariprasad recalled Choksi’s past success in evading authorities in Dominica and emphasized his concern over the influence of money in the legal battle.
“The legal system in India is undoubtedly very great, but the extradition process depends on the country we are dealing with. This case is not going to be easy, as he has so much money,” he said.
Hariprasad also revealed that Choksi had cheated at least 100 franchises, many of whom have filed legal cases in various cities across India.