Mehul Choksi takes innocence plea to high court

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Apr 25, 2019

Jewellery tycoon Mehul Choksi has taken his plea for a dismissal of the Enforcement Directorate’s application to declare him a fugitive economic offender to the Bombay High Court which will hold a hearing on the matter on June 5.

On April 24, Choksi’s lawyer Vijay Aggarwal filed a petition at the Bombay High Court requesting that Choksi should not be declared a fugitive economic offender, the Press Trust of India reported. Aggarwal argued that Choksi is not a fugitive because the reason he has not returned to India to face charges is due to his poor health and not a desire to evade the law.

Aggarwal attached Choksi’s medical records to the plea in an attempt to show that Choksi cannot travel due to poor health. Choksi is currently residing in Antigua where he took citizenship through the investor route before news of his alleged fraud at the Punjab National Bank broke in the media.

This is the second time Choksi has requested not to be declared a fugitive by the ED. Choksi first approached the lower court in Mumbai and, after it dismissed his request, he took the matter to the Bombay High Court. The bench of I A Mahanty and A M Badar decided to hold a hearing on June 5 to address Choksi’s plea.

The ED filed an application to declare Choksi a fugitive economic offender for failing to answer court summons to address his alleged part in the Rs 14,000 crore ($2 billion) fraud at the PNB. The application was made at a Prevention of Money Laundering Act court under the provisions of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018.