Mehul Choksi case hearing: Dominican Court to pronounce verdict shortly

Mehul Choksi, a celebrated diamond trader-turned fraudster, was born on May 5, 1959, in Mumbai. After getting an understanding about gems and diamonds, under shadow of his father for almost 10 years, in 1985, Mehul took over the business from Chinubhai. With an aim to serve the rich class, Mehul Choksi aggressively entered into the diamond gems-studded jewellery business and soon came up with multiple brands, which saw huge success in 1990s and early 2000s. Mehul Choksi became idol for all the business traders, including his Antwerp-based relative, who was father of Nirav Modi. But his Geetanjali Group of companies’s profit suffered huge hit in 2016 and 2017. Aware of all the tricks to route money, Mehul Choksi along with Nirav Modi, hatched a conspiracy to siphon off money from Punjab National Bank. Using forged letter of undertaking, Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi got over Rs 13,000 crore from the Punjab National Bank in 2017, only to launder it and siphon off. In mid of 2017, based on forged documents, he got an all-clear report from Mumbai Police stating that he is a good citizen and he has no pending criminal case against him. Using the Mumbai Police report, Mehul Choksi applied for citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda and in November 2017, he was awarded citizenship under the investment scheme there. Based on a red notice by Interpol, extradition proceedings were initiated at the courts of Antigua, but as the government, there had intended to strip down his citizenship and extradite him to India, on May 23, 2021, he fled from Antigua for Cuba. This time, however, he was caught within two days in Dominica.