Belgium Supreme Court clears Mehul Choksis extradition to India in Rs 13,850-crore PNB scam
The Belgium Supreme Court has dismissed Indian fugitive diamond trader Mehul Choksis plea challenging his extradition to India in a Rs 13,850-crore scam, CBI officials said on Tuesday. Choksi had approached Belgiums top court on October 30, challenging the October 17 order of the Antwerp Court of Appeals, which had termed Indias extradition request enforceable. The spokesperson for the Court of Cassation, Advocaat-general Henri Vanderlinden, said, The Court of Cassation rejected the appeal. So, the decision of the Court of Appeal stands. The Antwerp court had earlier ruled that Choksi, the main accused in the Rs 13,850-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam, faced no risk of being denied a fair trial or subjected to ill-treatment if sent back to India. On October 17, a four-member indictment chamber of the Antwerp Court of Appeals upheld an earlier order issued by the pre-trial chamber of the district court on November 29, 2024. It found no irregularity in the arrest warrants issued by a Mumbai special court in May 2018 and June 2021, ruling them enforceable and clearing the way for Choksis extradition. Dismissing Choksis appeal, the Court of Appeals held that the businessman failed to provide concretely plausible evidence of a genuine risk of torture or denial of justice. It found that the documents he submitted did not substantiate his claims of being subjected to a political trial. Choksi had claimed that the Indian system did not conform to international law. In response, Indian agencies submitted photographs of Mumbais Arthur Road Jail, specifically Barrack No. 12where Choksi will be held once extraditedto counter his claims that Indian prisons are overcrowded and unsafe. The 46-square-metre barrack has two cells with private toilets and basic facilities. The images were shared to refute his assertions of poor prison conditions. The agencies the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) had been tracking the fugitive since he fled India on January 2, 2018. The courts order noted that Choksi is not a Belgian citizen but a foreign national. He was arrested in Antwerp on April 11, 2025, at the request of Indian agencies. The offences cited by India including fraud, forgery, document falsification, and corruption are also considered crimes under Belgian law. The cases registered in India fall under IPC sections 120B, 201, 409, 420, 477A and sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, all carrying imprisonment of more than one year, the order stated. The Belgian court also recognised equivalent offences under Articles 66, 196, 197, 213, 240, 241, 245, 246, 247 SSSS2-4, 324a-b, and 496 of the Belgian Criminal Code, covering criminal organisation, swindle, embezzlement, and forgery. Rejecting Choksis claims of political persecution, the Court of Appeal said the offences cannot be considered political, military or non-extraditable tax offences, adding there were no grounds to believe that the request was made to prosecute or punish him for his race, religion, nationality or political affiliation. Choksi had also alleged he was kidnapped from Antigua by Indian agencies. The court, however, said it cannot be inferred from the documents supplied that he was kidnapped in Antigua on the instructions of Indian authorities. It also dismissed his claims that the Indian judiciary lacks independence and that media coverage would prevent a fair trial, calling such fears unfounded. In November 2022, Interpol had dropped the Red Corner Notice against Choksi after he claimed an attempted abduction by Indian agents in Antigua. Even without the notice, the ED with R&AWs help sent a request to Belgian authorities to arrest him. Earlier, on May 23, 2021, Choksi was arrested in Dominica for illegal entry after going missing from Antigua and Barbuda, where he had been living since 2018. He had alleged he was forcibly taken to Dominica by Indian operatives. Choksi is the owner of the Gitanjali Group, a jewellery retail chain with 4,000 stores in India. He, along with nephews Nirav Modi and Neeshal Modi, colluded with PNB officials to defraud the bank of over Rs 13,850 crore one of the biggest scams in Indias banking history. PNB officials at the Brady House branch in Mumbai issued fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) to facilitate import credit for pearls for a year, violating RBI rules that limit such credit to 90 days. Overseas branches of Indian banks ignored guidelines and failed to share documentation with PNB. The CBI registered a case based on PNBs complaint, but by then Choksi and others had fled India.
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