PORT OF SPAIN: A chartered Qatar Executive business jet has arrived in Dominica from New Delhi – a 20-hour journey – with deportation papers of Mehul Choksi and his case files. This was acknowledged by none other than Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne who said on Sunday that India had sent documents related to the fugitive businessman’s deportation.
The entire operation, it is understood, is being steered by the Ministry of External Affairs, in tandem with the ED, which is pressing for Choksi’s deportation ever since he was arrested for illegally sneaking into Dominica.
For the moment, a court in Dominica, which is 190 km from Antigua in the Caribbean archipelago, has restrained local authorities from deporting Choksi to either Antigua, where he resides and of which he has citizenship, or India, for that matter.
Choksi, keen to stall his extradition to India, has made out a case that he was forcibly abducted from Jolly Harbour in Antigua and Barbados and did not enter Dominica on his own volition. In his appeal challenging his detention.
Choksi has alleged that he was kidnapped, beaten and forcibly taken to Dominica. Purported pictures of 62-year-old Choksi have surfaced which show him with a swollen bloodshot eye and bruise on his hands.
The Caribbean islands are a god-send sanctuary for a fugitive businessman like Choksi because he only has to hop from one island to another to stay a step ahead of the Indian enforcement agencies. For the record, there are 13 such independent entities in the Caribbean and a businessman can change his passport status and residence at the drop of a that, provided he makes reassuring investment noises.
Choksi wanted to relocate from Antigua primarily because the local Prime Minister was not able to withstand pressure from Indian authorities on his extraition; by sneaking into Dominica he has deftly entangled himself in local laws which will effectively block his extradition.
Antiguan Prime Minister Gaston Browne and the opposition United Progressive Party don’t eye to eye on Choksi. Said Browne on Saturday: "We are determined to revoke Choksi's citizenship and to concurrently pursue his extradition to India to face criminal charges there.’’ However, the UPP reminded Browne that every citizen is entitled to constitutional protection and due process of law.
Browne sees in Opposition charge an attempt to rake up Choksi citizenship issue to rev up campaign funding. "After mischievously accusing my administration of harbouring Mehul Choksi, who has an Interpol Red Notice, they are now seeking to sanitize this fugitive to get campaign funding. My administration's move to revoke Choksi's citizenship has been frustrated by a litigation brought against the state," Gaston Browne said in a statement.
Trinidad and Tobago is the only island in the West Indies to have a diplomatic mission -- at Port of Spain. Indian diplomatic back channel efforts are emanating from here and steering Choksi’s deportation from Dominica; apft from keeping frayed tempers in check in Antigua and Barbados.