India can finally heave a sigh of relief! If all goes well than fugitive Mehul Choksi will soon be extradited to India. According to the Antigua Observer newspaper, PM Gaston Browne said that the government will revoke the citizenship of Mehul Choksi after he has exhausted all his legal options.
“His citizenship was processed; he got through but the reality is his citizenship will be revoked and he will be repatriated to India; so there is recourse. It’s not a case that we are trying to provide any safe harbour for criminals, for those who are involved in financial crimes,” the Prime Minister said.
He also added, “we have to allow for due process. He has a matter before the court and as we said to the Indian Government, criminals have fundamental rights, too, and Choksi has a right to go to court and defend his position. But I can assure you, after he has exhausted all of his legal options, he will be extradited.”
Mehul Choksi is a prime accused in the PNB scam. He took up the citizenship of Antigua and since then India has been trying hard to get him back to the country. The fugitive diamantaire had taken citizenship of Antigua in November 2017 and oath of allegiance on January 15, 2018. After the row, he said that he had ‘lawfully applied’ for citizenship and the reason for this were his plans to expand business in the Caribbean.
PM Browne also said, “Choksi’s citizenship was processed, he got through. We do have recourse, the reality is that his citizenship will be revoked and he will be deported to India. It’s not a case that we are trying to provide any safe harbour for criminals, for those who are involved in financial crimes.”
Meanwhile, government sources have said that they await Antigua to complete their internal process, so that they can start the extradition process.
Govt sources on reports on Mehul Choksi: India waits for Antigua’s internal process of revoking citizenship.Only after that extradition process can start separately. India continues to engage with Antigua.MEA yet to hear officially from Antiguan govt about revoking of citizenship pic.twitter.com/WqZVNx5zRW
— ANI (@ANI) June 25, 2019
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