Mehul Choksi, a rich diamond broker whom India has sought in reference to a fraud case involving one in every of India’s greatest state-run banks, has been arrested in Belgium, his attorney stated on Monday.Mr. Choksi, 65, is sought after on fees in relation to an try to defraud the publicly owned Punjab Nationwide Financial institution of just about $1.8 billion in a case that brought about a countrywide scandal when it turned into public in 2018.Mr. Choksi left India in a while sooner than the government there went public with the accusations towards him that yr. He has been dwelling within the Caribbean and in Belgium since then, consistent with the Indian information media.Cops within the Belgian town of Antwerp, a middle of the worldwide diamond business, arrested Mr. Choksi on Saturday, consistent with the Belgian public prosecutor’s workplace, which stated it had asked the arrest.The Belgian government didn’t in an instant supply main points of the instances that ended in Mr. Choksi’s arrest, however his attorney, Vijay Aggarwal, stated in an interview that India’s Central Bureau of Investigation, the principle govt investigative company, had requested for Mr. Choksi’s extradition.Mr. Aggarwal stated that he would search his shopper’s rapid unlock, arguing that he used to be in sick well being and present process remedy for most cancers.“He isn’t a flight chance,” Mr. Aggarwal advised a information convention in Delhi. “His scientific situation may be very precarious.”Mr. Aggarwal has denied accusations of wrongdoing within the case. Since leaving India, he has additionally frolicked in Dominica and Antigua, two nations within the Caribbean, consistent with the Indian information media.Mr. Choksi’s nephew Nirav Modi, as soon as one in every of India’s maximum outstanding high-end jewelers, used to be arrested in London in 2019 in reference to the financial institution fraud. Mr. Modi, who has additionally denied wrongdoing, had fled India weeks sooner 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 towards Mr. Choksi and Mr. Modi strengthened a belief in India that taxpayer-owned banks have been financing the lavish life of a emerging elite. Makes an attempt to carry the 2 to justice have captivated the Indian public.Jeanna Smialek contributed reporting from Brussels and Mike Ives from Seoul, South Korea.
Fugitive Jeweler Sought after by way of India Is Arrested in Belgium
