Prime accused in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, Mehul Choksi’s plea seeking to drop proceedings that declare him a Fugitive Economic Offender (FEO) have been rejected by a Mumbai court.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had filed an application to declare the absconding diamantaire an FEO.
But, following his arrest in Belgium in April this year, Choksi had moved the plea before the court hearing cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to dismiss the ED’s application to declare him an FEO, saying he is currently already in custody for cases pending in India.
The probe agency, however, opposed his plea, stating that the 66-year-old does not want to return to India as he is fighting extradition proceedings initiated against him by the Indian authorities in Belgium.
On October 17, a Belgian court upheld India’s request for the extradition of the diamond trader, which Choksi challenged in the country’s Supreme Court.
Also Read: Belgian court clears Choksi's extradition; appeal dismissed
The ED also argued that the FEO proceedings terminate only when an absconding accused appears, so it cannot be terminated now, and stressed that Choksi’s plea holds no merits, therefore deserving a dismissal.
Under the FEO Act, a person can be declared an FEO if a warrant has been issued against him for an offence involving an amount of ₹100 crore or more, and he has left the country and refuses to return. Once the accused is declared an FEO, the probe agency can confiscate his property.
Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are the prime accused in a multi-crore scam being probed by both the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the ED concerning the alleged siphoning off over ₹13,000 crore of public money from the PNB using LoUs and foreign letters of credit (FLCs) by bribing officials of the bank’s Brady House branch in Mumbai.
While Choksi is facing extradition proceedings, Nirav Modi is lodged in a London jail.
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