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The highest tribunal of Belgium — Court of Cassation — has rejected the entreaty of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi against India's extradition request, portion endorsing a little court's presumption that determination are nary grounds for his claims of flagrant denial of justice, torture oregon inhuman and degrading attraction successful India, according to the bid released connected Wednesday (December 17, 2025).
Imposing costs of Euros 104 connected Choksi, the tribunal upheld the presumption of the Indictment Chamber of Antwerp Court of Appeal, which had observed that the documentation provided by Choksi was insufficient to marque it concretely plausible that helium runs a real, contiguous and superior hazard of being subjected to flagrant denial of justness oregon to torture oregon inhuman and degrading attraction successful the requesting State.
The Court of Cassation does not re-examine the facts oregon determine whether extradition is just oregon wise. Its relation is constricted to checking whether the instrumentality was applied correctly, and whether procedural rules and reasoning duties were respected.
If the little courts applied the close ineligible standards and gave reasons, Cassation indispensable cull the appeal, adjacent if the result is controversial, officials said.
The Court of Cassation's bid accessed by the PTI shows that Choksi had based his arguments against the presumption taken by the Indictment Chamber connected his claims of an alleged kidnapping effort from Antigua, the presumption taken by the Commission for the Control of Interpol's Files (CCF) connected the alleged incident, media sum and the anticipation of not getting a just proceedings successful India connected the grounds of breach of presumption of innocence among different arguments.
The CCF had removed Choksi's sanction from the Interpol Red Notice database successful November 2022 connected the ground of his appeal. The CCF is simply a abstracted Interpol assemblage which is "not nether the control" of the Interpol Secretariat and is chiefly staffed by elected lawyers from antithetic countries wherever radical tin situation decisions to state them fugitives.
Choksi's statement that the authoritative withheld accusation connected CCF findings connected his attempted kidnapping from Antigua from the pre-trial enclosure of the Antwerp territory court, which had upheld the Mumbai tribunal warrants, besides did not find enactment from the apex tribunal successful Belgium.
Even if the idiosyncratic was not summoned and adjacent if the Interpol CCF determination was not submitted initially, his defence rights were inactive adequately protected due to the fact that helium could appeal, the tribunal noted.
It said connected appeal, the Indictment Chamber had afloat jurisdiction, heard the lawsuit adversarially and examined each documents, including the CCF decision.
As agelong arsenic the idiosyncratic tin afloat reason his lawsuit connected appeal, determination is nary ineligible violation, adjacent if the first-instance process was imperfect, the apex tribunal successful Belgium said.
The Court of Cassation recovered nary infirmity successful the findings of the Indictment Chamber, which had upheld a little tribunal bid dated November 29, 2024, terming the apprehension warrants issued by a Mumbai peculiar tribunal successful May 2018 and June 2021 arsenic "enforceable", paving the mode for Choksi's extradition.
It noted that the Indictment Chamber judgement answers and rejects the applicant's defence acceptable retired successful the appeal, without having to respond to each statement enactment guardant successful enactment of this defence, without constituting a abstracted defence.
It besides justified the determination that the grounds for refusal nether Article 2a, paragraph 2, of the Extradition Act 1874 (on imaginable torture) does not use arsenic a substance of law, arsenic stated successful the bid fixed successful Dutch.
The tribunal was presided implicit by Filip Van Volsem, Section President Erwin Francis and Justices Eric Van Dooren, Bruno Lietaert and Jos Decoker.
Choksi had fled from India successful the archetypal week of January 2018, days earlier the ₹13,000 crore fraud successful the PNB was detected.
At the petition of the CBI and the ED, Interpol included his sanction successful the database of astir wanted fugitives called Red Notice successful December 2018.
Of the ₹13,000 crore scam, Choksi unsocial has siphoned disconnected ₹6,400 crore, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has alleged successful its chargesheet.
Choksi was spotted successful Belgium wherever helium had purportedly reached for treatment.
India had sent an extradition petition to Belgium connected August 27, 2024, based connected apprehension warrants issued by the peculiar tribunal successful Mumbai.
The nationalist authoritative astatine the Court of First Instance successful Antwerp, Division Turnhout, initiated an enactment connected November 25, 2025, seeking the enforcement of apprehension warrants issued by the Mumbai court.
The pre-trial enclosure of the Antwerp District Court, Turnhout Division, successful its bid dated November 29, 2024, declared that the apprehension warrants against Choksi issued by the Mumbai tribunal were enforceable, but for the bid related to "causing the disappearance of grounds of the crime".
India has fixed a fig of assurances to Belgium regarding Choksi's safety, the charges that helium would look during proceedings successful India, situation arrangements, quality rights and aesculapian needs.
