Fugitive Mehul Choksi challenges extradition in Belgium Supreme Court

New Delhi: Fugitive diamond trader Mehul Choksi has challenged before Belgium’s Supreme Court an October 17 ruling by the Antwerp Court of Appeal that had upheld India’s request for his extradition, calling it “enforceable”, officials said on Monday.

In response to queries sent by PTI, the public prosecutor at the Court of Appeal in Antwerp said Choksi filed an appeal in the Court of Cassation on October 30.

“This appeal is strictly limited to legal merits and will be judged by the Court of Cassation. During this procedure, the execution of the extradition is suspended,” Advocate General Ken Witpas said in his response to PTI.

The Court of Cassation is the Supreme Court of Belgium.

On October 17, a four-member indictment chamber at the Court of Appeals in Antwerp found no infirmity in the orders issued by the pre-trial chamber of the district court on November 29, 2024, terming the arrest warrants issued by a Mumbai special court in May 2018 and June 2021 as “enforceable”, allowing Choksi’s extradition.

The Court of Appeals ruled that fugitive Choksi, the main accused in a Rs-13,000 crore PNB scam, faces “no risk” of being denied a fair trial or subjected to ill-treatment if he is extradited to India.

Of the total scam amount, Choksi alone has siphoned off Rs 6,400 crore, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has alleged in its chargesheet.

Choksi, who escaped to Antigua and Barbuda in January 2018, days before the scam was detected, was spotted in Belgium, where he had purportedly reached for seeking treatment.

India sent an extradition request to Belgium on August 27, 2024, based on arrest warrants issued by the special court in Mumbai.

The public prosecutor at the Court of First Instance in Antwerp, Division Turnhout, initiated an action on November 25, 2024, seeking the enforcement of arrest warrants issued by the Mumbai court.

The pre-trial chamber of the Antwerp District Court, Turnhout Division, in its order dated November 29, 2024, declared that the arrest warrants against Choksi issued by the Mumbai court were enforceable, except for the order related to “causing the disappearance of evidence of the crime”.

When Choksi appealed against this verdict in the Antwerp Court of Appeals it also rejected his claims that he personally faces a real, present and serious risk of being subjected to flagrant denial of justice, torture or inhuman and degrading treatment in India.

India has given a number of assurances to Belgium regarding Choksi’s safety, the charges that he would face during trial in India, prison arrangements, human rights and medical needs.

The Court of Appeals had ruled that 66-year-old Choksi faces “no risk” of being denied a fair trial or subjected to ill-treatment if he is extradited to India.

Dismissing the appeal filed by Choksi against the district court, the Court of Appeals held that the businessman failed to provide “concretely plausible” evidence of a “genuine risk” of torture or denial of justice.

The order was a strong validation of India’s case seeking his extradition, with Choksi having the option of appealing against the decision in Belgium’s Supreme Court, the officials said.

The Court of Appeals has held that the documents Choksi submitted do not substantiate his claims that he is the subject of a political trial.

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