Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi has reportedly been detained in Belgium on an Indian extradition request for his alleged involvement in a $1.8bn (£1.4bn) fraud case involving the Punjab Nationwide Financial institution.
The Indian authorities had additionally despatched a request for Mr Choksi’s extradition previous to his arrest, Reuters reported, however he was more likely to problem it on medical grounds.
Mr Choksi’s detention got here weeks after information reviews confirmed the businessman was residing in Antwerp together with his spouse after securing a residency card in November 2023.
Punjab Nationwide Financial institution, India’s second-largest state-run lender, revealed in 2018 that it had found suspected fraud value $1.8bn at considered one of its branches in Mumbai.
The financial institution filed a felony grievance with the Indian central investigative company in opposition to a number of entities and people, naming billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi and his uncle and managing director of Gitanjali Gems Mr Choksi as the first accused behind the alleged fraud.
Mr Choksi was arrested for illegally coming into after leaving the close by Caribbean island of Antigua, the place he had been residing since fleeing India.
The fugitive jeweller had left Antigua and Barbuda, the place he had obtained citizenship, to hunt most cancers remedy and was making ready to relocate to Switzerland, in line with NDTV.
Indian investigators have been attempting to extradite Mr Choksi and Mr Modi since they fled the nation in 2018 and query them concerning the financial institution rip-off.
In December 2024, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman knowledgeable the parliament that belongings valued at £246m had been recovered or liquidated to repay the money owed of fugitives, together with Mr Choksi.
Final week, a Pakistani-born Canadian businessman accused of serving to orchestrate the 2008 assaults in Mumbai landed in Delhi after the US extradited him within the first such switch in a terrorism case.
Tahawwur Rana, 64, a doctor-turned-businessman, was anticipated to face trial in a case associated to the assaults that left over 160 individuals lifeless.
Further reporting by businesses.
