Vested interests thwarted Mehul Choksi’s extradition, says Antiguan media

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 5

“Vested interests and weak laws” were at play when a Dominican court accepted the “abduction theory” of PNB fraud accused Mehul Choksi and adjourned the hearing in the case, said local media in Antigua and Barbuda.

Choksi has been granted interim relief from immediate deportation from Dominica to India.

Despite it being an open-and-shut case, the Dominican court had on Thursday adjourned the matter of his detention, as the next date of hearing is yet to be fixed and the court proceedings are expected to take time.

The local media reports alleged that Choksi’s lawyers connived with opposition leaders to pressure the judiciary, which rather than questioning the fugitive’s illegal entry from Antigua to Dominica, believed his lawyers’ version that he had been abducted.

The local media, while quoting authorities in Antigua and Barbuda, however, contended that evidence suggested Choksi was planning to escape to Cuba and so he fled the country.

The fugitive diamantaire had gone missing from Antigua on May 23 and was soon caught in Dominica after the Antigua police launched a manhunt last month.

“He was charged with illegal entry into Dominica after he allegedly escaped from Antigua and Barbuda in a possible attempt to evade extradition to India,” the local media reports suggested.

Political connivance

• Antiguan media reports suggest that Mehul Choksi’s lawyers connived with opposition leaders to pressure the judiciary, which rather than questioning the fugitive’s illegal entry from Antigua to Dominica, believed his lawyers’ version that he had been abducted
• The fugitive diamantaire had gone missing from Antigua on May 23 and was soon caught in Dominica
• He has been granted interim relief from immediate deportation from Dominica to India