Fugitive Indian suspected of billions of fraud lives in hiding in Antwerp (Antwerp)
Mehul Choksi has been fleeing in India since 2018. – © Getty Images
Mehul Choksi, one of the most wanted men in India, is hiding on the island in Antwerp. This is apparent from court documents leaked in the Indian press. Choksi is suspected of having darkened 1.6 billion euros.
Since 2018, the Indian authorities have been hunting Mehul Choksi (65), a businessman who is suspected of involvement in a huge fraud case. Choksi, together with two cousins and a fourth companion, would have darkened money for years at the Punjab National Bank, a state bank in India. Converted they would have darkened 1.6 billion euros.
Even before the scam came to light, Choksi fled out of the country. He settled in the Caribbean on Antigua and Barbuda, where he became an official citizen through an investment program. After a failed kidnapping attempt, in its own words by the Indian secret service, Choksi decided to leave the Caribbean a few years ago.
Note
Since then it remained silent around the man. Until he appeared a few months ago in … Antwerp. According to Indian Media, he would even have obtained Belgian nationality through his wife Preeti. At the beginning of this week, various court documents leaked in the Indian press. This shows that Mehul Choksi lived in Antwerp in February, on a luxury apartment on the Eilandje.
Still in the documents: a sickness letter from a doctor on the island. Choksi filed that note through his lawyers at the court in Bombay, to let us know that he cannot go to India for a trial even after all these years. Choski suffers from a form of blood cancer. « The undersigned declares Mehul Choksi 100 percent incompetent to travel, » says his doctor.
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Red Notice
In the meantime, the Indian authorities would have submitted an extradition request. The Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs is aware of the file and attaches great importance to it. « We follow it closely, » confirms spokesperson David Jordens. He refers to the judiciary in view of the file falls under their authority, but there is currently remembering all comments.
Mehul Choksi stood internationally for a while, but Interpol moved in that ‘Red Notice’ after the failed kidnapping attempt. The cousin of Choksi, Nirav Modi, and Aditya Nanavati still appear on the Interpol website for their involvement in the facts.
