A Belgian court has refused bail to diamond merchant Mehul Choksi, one of the main accused in the ₹13,000-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam. The court ruling came on Tuesday during a hearing in Antwerp, where Choksi was arrested on April 12.
A Belgian court has refused bail to diamond merchant Mehul Choksi, one of the main accused in the ₹13,000-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam. The court ruling came on Tuesday during a hearing in Antwerp, where Choksi was arrested on April 12, PTI reported.
His lawyer, Vijay Aggarwal, confirmed that the court rejected the bail request on Tuesday.
Choksi, 65, was caught by the Belgian authorities in Antwerp after an extradition request from Indian agencies, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
A senior official familiar with the case stated that Choksi will now fight his extradition from jail. He had been residing in Antigua since fleeing India in 2018 and had acquired citizenship of the Caribbean nation, despite his Indian citizenship being said to be valid. In November 2023, he reportedly arrived in Belgium claiming to seek medical treatment.
Indian agencies have provided Belgian authorities with at least two open-ended arrest warrants, issued by a special Mumbai court in 2018 and 2021, as part of their extradition request.
Choksi, along with his nephew Nirav Modi, several family members, employees, and bank officials, was named in cases filed by the CBI and ED in 2018. The charges are related to a massive loan fraud involving fraudulent issuance of Letters of Undertaking (LOUs) and manipulation of Foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs) at PNB’s Brady House branch in Mumbai.
Aggarwal has previously stated that his client is “extremely sick and undergoing treatment for cancer.”
