Mehul Choksi, a rich diamond vendor whom India has sought in reference to a fraud case involving one in every of India’s largest state-run banks, has been arrested in Belgium, his lawyer stated on Monday.
Mr. Choksi, 65, is needed on costs regarding an try and defraud the publicly owned Punjab Nationwide Financial institution of practically $1.8 billion in a case that brought on a national scandal when it turned public in 2018.
Mr. Choksi left India shortly earlier than the authorities there went public with the accusations in opposition to him that yr. He has been dwelling within the Caribbean and in Belgium since then, in line with the Indian information media.
Cops within the Belgian metropolis of Antwerp, a middle of the worldwide diamond commerce, arrested Mr. Choksi on Saturday, in line with the Belgian public prosecutor’s workplace, which stated it had requested the arrest.
The Belgian authorities didn’t instantly present particulars of the circumstances that led to Mr. Choksi’s arrest, however his lawyer, Vijay Aggarwal, stated in an interview that India’s Central Bureau of Investigation, the principle authorities investigative company, had requested for Mr. Choksi’s extradition.
Mr. Aggarwal stated that he would search his consumer’s instant launch, arguing that he was in unwell well being and present process remedy for most cancers.
“He isn’t a flight threat,” Mr. Aggarwal instructed a information convention in Delhi. “His medical situation could be very precarious.”
Mr. Aggarwal has denied accusations of wrongdoing within the case. Since leaving India, he has additionally hung out in Dominica and Antigua, two international locations within the Caribbean, in line with the Indian information media.
Mr. Choksi’s nephew Nirav Modi, as soon as one in every of India’s most outstanding high-end jewelers, was arrested in London in 2019 in reference to the financial institution fraud. Mr. Modi, who has additionally denied wrongdoing, had fled India weeks earlier than officers there accused him, Mr. Choksi and others within the fraud case. Mr. Modi has fought Indian efforts to have him extradited, and stays jailed in Britain.
The case in opposition to Mr. Choksi and Mr. Modi bolstered a notion in India that taxpayer-owned banks have been financing the lavish existence of a rising elite. Makes an attempt to convey the 2 to justice have captivated the Indian public.
Jeanna Smialek contributed reporting from Brussels and Mike Ives from Seoul, South Korea.
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