Mumbai: Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, accused of involvement in the over $2 billion fraud at Punjab National Bank, has told a special court here that he will appear before it if he is fit to travel. His lawyer Sanjay Abbot made this submission on Saturday before special PMLA judge M S Azmi during the hearing of ED’s plea to declare Choksi a fugitive under the new Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.
Choksi is not fit to travel, so his statement can be recorded through video conferencing or ED officers can visit Antigua and take his statement, Choksi’s lawyer told court. The agency can even wait for three months, for if his condition improves, he’ll come back to the country, the lawyer added.
Last month, Choksi had cited “health issues” to seek dismissal of the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) plea to declare him a “fugitive economic offender”.In one of the ten applications filed before the court on October 30, Choksi had stated that he cannot take a “41-hour” flight to come to India due to a “brain clot” and other medical conditions.
Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted by the ED and the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) for allegedly defrauding the PNB to the tune of Rs 13,400 crore in collusion with a few of its employees.
The ED had prayed that Choksi be declared a “fugitive economic offender” for evading summons to appear before the agency and that his properties be confiscated under the provisions of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018.