7 months ago
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A Belgian tribunal has ruled that fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, the main accused successful the ₹13,000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam, faces “no risk” of being denied a just proceedings oregon subjected to ill-treatment if extradited to India.
A four-member indictment enclosure astatine the Court of Appeals successful Antwerp recovered nary infirmity successful the orders issued by the pretrial enclosure of the Antwerp territory tribunal connected November 29, 2024. The territory tribunal had deemed apprehension warrants issued by a Mumbai peculiar tribunal successful May 2018 and June 2021 arsenic “enforceable”, allowing Choksi’s extradition.
Dismissing Choksi’s entreaty against the territory court, the Court of Appeals held that the 66-year-old businessman failed to supply “concretely plausible” grounds of a “genuine risk” of torture oregon denial of justice.
The bid comes arsenic a beardown validation of India’s lawsuit seeking his extradition, though Choksi retains the enactment of appealing to Belgium’s Supreme Court, officials said.
The Court of Appeals noted that the documents submitted by Choksi did not substantiate his assertion of being subjected to a governmental trial. “It is up to the taxable to supply grounds demonstrating important grounds to judge that determination is simply a genuine hazard of ill-treatment upon extradition,” the tribunal said.
Rejecting his arguments that helium whitethorn not person a just trial, the Belgian tribunal held that the documentation provided by him is insufficient to marque it “concretely plausible” that helium faces a real, present, and superior hazard of flagrant denial of justice, torture, oregon inhuman and degrading attraction successful India.
Choksi’s claims that helium was kidnapped from Antigua and Barbuda by Indian agencies and tortured successful Dominica were not supported by the court, which stated that the records submitted bash not “conclusively indicate” that helium was a unfortunate of specified a kidnapping.
The fugitive had cited the October 12, 2022, determination of the Commission for the Control of Interpol’s Files (CCF), an autarkic assemblage that ensures compliance with Interpol rules, which allowed the Red Notice against him to beryllium dropped connected alleged kidnapping grounds, arsenic grounds that helium mightiness look torture successful India. The Court of Appeals observed that the CCF’s determination “provides nary clarity connected the matter” and is “formulated cautiously and conditionally”.
Choksi did not contiguous important documentation to enactment a assertion that the independency of Indian judges could enactment his close to a just proceedings astatine risk, the tribunal noted.
According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), of the ₹13,000 crore scam, Choksi unsocial siphoned disconnected ₹6,400 crore. He had fled to Antigua and Barbuda successful January 2018, days earlier the scam was detected, and was aboriginal spotted successful Belgium, reportedly seeking aesculapian treatment.
India had sent an extradition petition to Belgium connected August 27, 2024, based connected apprehension warrants issued by the Mumbai peculiar court. The nationalist authoritative astatine the Court of First Instance successful Antwerp, Division Turnhout, initiated an enactment connected November 25, 2025, seeking enforcement of these warrants.
The pretrial enclosure of the Antwerp District Court, Turnhout Division, successful its November 29, 2024, order, declared the Mumbai-issued apprehension warrants enforceable, but for the bid related to “causing the disappearance of grounds of the crime.”
India has provided aggregate assurances to Belgium regarding Choksi’s safety, the charges helium would look during trial, situation arrangements, quality rights, and aesculapian needs.
