New Delhi: A Belgian court Friday ordered the extradition of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi on requests made by the Indian government, ThePrint has learnt.
An official in agencies involved in the process confirmed that a court in Antwerp passed the order initiating the formal process of bringing Choksi back to India.
However, Choksi has options available to challenge the extradition order passed by the lower court.
The development comes six months after Belgian authorities detained Choksi on the request of the Indian government. India has been trying to have Choksi extradited since December 2018 when Interpol issued a Red Order Notice against him.
Uncle of another fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, and former promoter of Gitanjali Gems, Choksi is accused in Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate cases linked to a bank loan fraud involving the Punjab National Bank, which came to light in 2018.
The decision of the Belgian court comes weeks after the Indian government submitted a sovereign guarantee on providing Choksi with humanitarian conditions at par with standards set by European human rights laws. He will be kept in the well-developed barrack number 12 at Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail.
Choksi’s extradition, if achieved, will be a significant success and motivation for Indian agencies pursuing legal proceedings in foreign courts against several fugitives such as Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya and Sanjay Bhandari, among others.
In a move to further ease the path to extraditing another fugitive diamantaire and Mehul Choksi’s nephew Nirav Modi, the Indian government earlier this month also assured a United Kingdom court that Nirav Modi would not be questioned by any of the agencies probing the fraud case against him. Instead, he would directly face the trial before a special court.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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So great. This is what backdoor diplomacy looks like. This is why it’s important for the country to be richer. Europeans countries might pretend to care about human rights for this criminal but the reality is, it’s a simple game of maths.
It’s more beneficial for Europe to keep India happy. 20 years ago these things would have not happened because there was nothing substantial which we can provide to Europeans.
This is why people should support development and free market economy. We don’t need to become like America but we can take the good things while the bad things can be dumped.