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‘Strictly for treatment’: Mehul Choksi gets interim bail, can travel to Antigua
Choksi, however, will have to return to Dominica where he is facing illegal entry charges, as soon as he is fit to travel.
A Dominican court on Monday granted interim bail to fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi and allowed him to travel to Antigua and Barbuda, where he is a citizen, “strictly for medical treatment,” HT has learnt.
Choksi, however, will have to return to Dominica where he is facing illegal entry charges, as soon as he is fit to travel, people familiar with the developments said.
The court has asked Choksi to deposit Eastern Caribbean dollars 10,000 (around ₹2.75 lakh) as surety for the bail. His legal team approached the Dominica high court last week seeking relief on the ground that his health was deteriorating and he needed urgent medical attention.
“Dominica courts finally upheld the rule of law and rights of a human to be treated in the medical facilities of his choice. And all attempts by various agencies did not bear fruits. There is solace in saying that all clever foxes end up as fur coats,” Choksi’s lawyer Vijay Aggarwal told HT on Monday.
Meanwhile, the proceedings against him in the illegal entry case filed by Dominica police have been adjourned.
As reported by HT, Choksi also approached the high court last week seeking a judicial review of the criminal case against him alleging that he had been abducted from Antigua and Barbuda and brought to Dominica as part of collusion between the two island nations and the Indian government.
The allegations have been rejected by all three governments.
Choksi went missing from Antigua on May 23 and was found in Dominica the next day.
The Indian government has sought his deportation directly from Dominica as he is an illegal citizen there, while in Antigua, he enjoys constitutional and legal protection.
The businessman, who fled India in January 2018 after cheating Punjab National Bank of $952 million, is currently facing extradition proceedings, as well as revocation of citizenship proceedings, in Antigua.
