Fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi, who went missing a day before from Antigua and Barbuda, was arrested in Dominica after an extensive manhunt was launched to nab him. Interpol had issued a Yellow Notice against him. A Yellow Notice is issued by Interpol to track missing persons. However, his move to flee from Antigua and Barbuda did not go well with the authorities there and Antiguan PM Gaston Browne asked Dominica to repatriate him to India directly. Browne said that Choksi made a monumental error by skipping the island. “Dominica has agreed to hand Mehul Choksi over to India. We’ll not accept him back. He made a monumental error by skipping the island. Dominican govt and law enforcement are cooperating with us and we have informed the Indian government to have him repatriated to India,” said Antiguan PM Gaston Browne.
Notably, Choksi will not have the same legal rights in Dominica as he had in Antigua and Barbuda, where he had been staying since 2018. Choksi took Antigua and Barbuda’s citizenship in 2017 under the Citizenship by Investment programme under which the investor gets legal rights in the island country.
Browne believes that it is easy for Dominica to repatriate Choksi directly to India than Antigua and Barbuda.
Choksi is wanted in a Rs 13,500-crore loan fraud case related to the Punjab National Bank in India. He was last seen going for dinner in his car in Antigua and Barbuda on Sunday. He was reported missing after his abandoned car was found by his staff.
The reports of Choksi gone missing created a flutter in the Caribbean island country after the opposition raised the issue in the Antigua and Barbuda Parliament, reported PTI.
Prime Minister Browne had reportedly told the opposition that his government was collaborating with neighbouring countries, international police and the Indian government to trace him.
Mehul Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi had allegedly siphoned off Rs 13,500 crore from the PNB using fraudulent letters. While Choksi had been residing in Antigua, Nirav Modi has been lodged in a London jail. He has been unsuccessfully contesting his extradition to India in the UK court. Both fugitive businessmen are facing a CBI probe in India.
