The Dominica High Court, which has dismissed the bail petition of Mehul Choksi, was told by Indian probe agencies that the fugitive businessman is "an international fugitive, main conspirator and direct beneficiary of a bank fraud case" and is facing several pending and ongoing cases of cheating and corruption in India.
The Indian agencies also told the court that he is chargesheeted in the bank fraud case, there is a non-bailable warrant against him and he continues to evade law enforcement in India.
On the complaint made by Indian government, a "red notice" has been issued against Choksi by Interpol, the Indian agencies told the Dominica Court.
An affidavit filed by the team of investigative agencies, which is headed by DIG of CBI Sharda Raut, also mentioned that there are several other criminal cases pending against Choksi in different states of India.
The affidavit noted that Choksi's bail plea has suppressed all this (pending and ongoing cases) from the court and has instead suggested that there are no proceedings against him in India.
The affidavit also said that Choksi was the mastermind behind a series of companies, and he and others conspired with officials of the PNB bank to unauthorizedly raise credit by abusing the procedures of the bank.
"Mehul Choksi is fully aware of proceedings in India. He has appointed lawyers in India and one of them recently gave a press interview about the happenings in Dominica supporting the version being advanced by Choksi. It is unfortunate that Choksi has suppressed all this from the court and has instead suggested that there are no proceedings against him in India," Indian probe agencies told the court.
Taking notes of facts of the case, the Dominica High Court dismissed the bail petition of fugitive businessman Choksi and noted that he is a "flight risk".
The 62-year-old fugitive businessman, who fled to Antigua and Barbuda, is wanted by the Indian probe agencies for allegedly cheating the Punjab National Bank of over Rs 13000 crore, one of the largest bank fraud cases in India.
( With inputs from ANI )
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