The ED has filed a fresh chargesheet against absconding jeweller Mehul Choksi, his wife Priti and others under the anti-money laundering law in connection with the over Rs 13,000-crore PNB loan fraud case, officials said on Monday. This is the first prosecution complaint filed by the central agency against Choksi's wife Priti Pradyotkumar Kothari. She has been charged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) with "helping her husband in layering of the proceeds of crime".
A magistrate court in Dominica on Thursday sent businessman Mehul Choksi to a state prison, his lawyer in India said, but added that he would continue to remain in hospital as his medical condition "deteriorated".
A Dominica Magistrate Court has adjourned till June 25 the hearing into alleged illegal entry of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi into the Caribbean island nation, local media there reported. On Monday, the Magistrate Court was to start hearing the case of Choksi's "illegal entry" into the country on May 23 but he was a "no show", a media website Natureislenews reported. His legal team submitted a medical certificate from the doctors of Dominica China Friendship Hospital, where Choksi is being held, of "mental stress" and elevated blood pressure.
Diamantaire Mehul Choksi will "only" return to Dominica to face trial for illegal entry into that country when a doctor "certifies" that he is fit to stand trial, the media there reported citing conditions laid down by the Dominica high court while granting him bail. In a major setback to Indian efforts to bring him from the Caribbean country, Dominica high court Judge Bernie Stephenson allowed the businessman to return to Antigua and Barbuda, where he has been living as a citizen since 2018 after leaving India, to seek medical advice from neurologist Hayden Osborne at the Mount St. John's Medical Centre, Dominica News Online reported. Choksi is having a clot in brain besides other health issues such as diabetes and hypertension, his legal team has submitted.
Currently, Choksi has got interim relief from immediate repatriation to India by the Dominican court.
Dominica high court on Thursday adjourned the hearing on a habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of diamond trader Mehul Choksi, local media reported. Judge Bernie Stephenson will decide the next date of hearing after meeting both sides, Antigua News Room said. The adjournment is to allow lawyers for Choksi and the Dominica government "to agree on the language to be used with respect to the injunction filed to prevent his removal from Dominica", the media outlet reported.
He said that Government of Dominica and law enforcement agencies, unless the court rules otherwise, can deport him to India because he is an Indian citizen, Antigua News Room reported.
The Dominica high court has stayed the removal of Choksi from its soil and put a gag order on the developments till the matter is heard in an open court on June 2.
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne has asked neighbouring Dominica, where fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi was caught, to hand the diamantaire over to India directly, local media reported.
Police in Dominica captured Choksi on Tuesday night (local time) after an Interpol Yellow Notice was issued by Antigua and Barbuda.
The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in the High Court of Justice Commonwealth of Dominica on Friday put a stay on the repatriation of India-born fugitive Mehul Choksi from Dominica. "This order is to be served immediately on the defendants by email and fax and in person, and the head of immigration at the Douglas Charles airport by email and fax," read the court order. The court will hold the next hearing in the matter on May 28 at 9 am local time.
The case of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi is proving to be a hot potato for the governments of Carribbean island countries, with Antigua and Barbuda asking the neighbouring Dominica to repatriate him to India, and the latter nation considering returning him to Antigua. Sources in India said the government is making efforts to bring him back as soon as possible. The fugitive businessman, who was residing in Antigua and Barbuda since 2018 after his escape from India, had gone missing on Sunday under mysterious circumstances. He was later "detained" in Dominica for illegal entry.
India has received the third set of Swiss bank account details of its nationals under an automatic exchange of information pact with Switzerland, as part of an annual exercise under which the European nation has shared the particulars of nearly 33 lakh financial accounts with 96 countries.
'I was shocked by the kidnapping episode. I could have lost my life.'
Diamantaire Mehul Choksi has landed in Antigua and Barbuda, where he has been staying since 2018 after leaving India, after 51 days of custody in neighbouring Dominica for illegal entry which his lawyers claim was a kidnapping plan, local media reported. Choksi, 62, was given bail by Dominica High Court to travel back to Antigua for seeking medical help from a neurologist based there. After depositing bail money of EC Dollars 10,000, Choksi in a shirt and shorts flew back to Antigua in a chartered plane, Antigua News Room reported.
Six-time World champion M C Mary Kom (51kg) powered into the Olympics' pre-quarterfinals after a superb tactical victory over Dominican Republic's Miguelina Hernandez Garcia.
World leaders thanked India for its help and support in combating the coronavirus pandemic through "early and meaningful" shipments of COVID-19 vaccine doses, as they addressed the high-level UN General Assembly session this year.
Mary Kom (51kg) will open her campaign against Dominica's Miguelina Hernandez on July 25; Panghal gets bye into pre-quarters.
About 40 per cent of the money lost by banks in the PNB scam and the fraud linked to fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya's defunct Kingfisher Airlines has been realised by way of sale of shares seized under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the Enforcement Directorate said on Wednesday.
The Government of Dominica has told a court there to reject the habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of businessman Mehul Choksi who had claimed that he was abducted and forcefully brought to the Caribbean island nation, local media reported. The high court of Dominica ordered that the businessman be produced in a magistrate court to answer charges of his illegal entry into the country and adjourned the hearing on the habeas corpus petition till Thursday, according to local media. Rejecting the submission of Choksi who is wanted in India in an alleged Rs 13,500 crore loan fraud case in Punjab National Bank, the prosecution said the habeas corpus petition does not stand as he had illegally entered the country and was subsequently detained.
It was perhaps over-enthusiasm that prompted the Indian investigative agencies to take a private jet to Dominica to bring back fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi. Predictably, the eight-member team had to return empty-handed after almost a week-long wait. The agencies were banking too much on the "state-less" status of Mr Choksi, as Antigua, which had given him citizenship in 2017, wasn't willing to take him back. Thus, the calculation was that Mr Choksi would be whisked away from the Dominican courtroom to the waiting plane. The reason for the optimism was also because Antigua is friendly territory for India.
Of the 4.10 crore to be shared through COVAX, 1.40 crore will go to Latin America and the Caribbean nations and 1.60 crore to Asia.
Companies owned by fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi have allegedly siphoned off over Rs 6,344.96 crore from the Punjab National Bank (PNB) using fraudulent letters of undertaking and foreign letters of credit, a CBI investigation into the scam has detected. The findings were submitted by the CBI in a supplementary chargesheet filed before a special court in Mumbai last week, where the agency said the PNB was conned by its employees who were allegedly hand in gloves with Choksi and his company executives and who facilitated the scam as part of a criminal conspiracy. The PNB officials at the bank's Brady House branch in Mumbai issued 165 letters of undertaking (LoUs) and 58 foreign letters of credit (FLCs) during March-April 2017, against which 311 bills were discounted.
"Well, he never used words like escape or shared with me such a plan like this. However, he did ask me twice if I have ever been to Cuba, he also told me that the next time we may meet in Cuba. He never explained the escape plan but I'm certain that Dominica is not his final destination but if you ask my opinion, I can be more and more certain that Cuba could have been his final destination," Barbara told ANI.
Fugitive Diamantaire Mehul Choksi who is held in Dominica after his mysterious disappearance from Antigua and Barbuda has alleged that his "friend" Barbara Jabarica was instrumental in his abduction which involved musclemen claiming to be Antiguan Police and mercenaries looking like Indians. The police have started the investigation after receiving a complaint from Choksi, Antigua Prime Minister Gaston Browne said.
The Dominica high court on Wednesday ordered that diamantaire Mehul Choksi be produced before a magistrate there to answer charges of his illegal entry into the Caribbean island country, local media reported. Dominica high court Judge Bernie Stephenson issued the orders after nearly three hours of hearing on a habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of Choksi who had claimed that he was abducted from neighbouring Antigua and Barbuda and forcefully brought to the Caribbean Island nation. She adjourned the habeas corpus matter till Thursday, Dominica News Online reported.
'My husband is no longer an Indian citizen. 'In 2017, he ceased to be an Indian citizen.' 'The safest place on earth for him is Antigua'
Despite recent developments that have accelerated the impending extradition of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, who has been in custody in London's Wandsworth Prison for over two years, the last month has seen his uncle Mehul Choksi dominate the headlines instead with his circus-like exhibition in the Caribbean that has involved red herrings such as a "girlfriend", to whom his wife seemed to have no objection, and possibly concocted stories of being kidnapped and manhandled. Choksi was widely regarded as Modi's Svengali in Mumbai when he returned from Belgium to expand his business. He had fled to Antigua well before news around how Modi finagled thousands of crores from Punjab National Bank (PNB) and other institutions through a series of allegedly coordinated and fraudulent actions involving letters of undertaking, or LoUs.
Given how everything has played out, Mehul Choksi, now 62, achieved all that he wanted but for all the wrong reasons, says Pavan Lall.
A total of over 75 Heads of State and Foreign Ministers will be meeting with Modi, external affairs minister S Jaishankar and minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan during the week across various platforms.
Modi announced a USD 14-million grant for community development projects in the Caricom and another USD 150 million line of credit for solar, renewable energy and climate- change related projects, a statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs said.
Modi, who will be addressing the General Debate for the first time in five years, has a packed bilateral and multilateral agenda beginning September 23 till September 27.
West Indies coach Stuart Law was on Tuesday suspended from the first two ODIs against India for making 'inappropriate comments' against a match official.
Venus Williams said she was 'overjoyed' that Wimbledon organisers gave women the spotlight on the tournament's main showcourts on Wednesday.
West Indies came up with a splendid performance with both bat and ball as they thrashed World XI by 72 runs in the Hurricane Relief Twenty20 Challenge at Lord's, on Thursday.
India's Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik join an ICC World XI for the high-profile Twenty20 International against the West Indies at Lord's in London on May 31, being organised to raise funds for stadia in the Caribbean damaged by hurricanes last year.
Meanwhile, the Board has given the names of Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik as India's representatives in the World XI team that will play West Indies in a charity Twenty20 match at the Lord's on May 31.
The match is being organised to raise funds for stadia in the Caribbean, which were damaged due to hurricanes last year.
Here are some of the beautiful images in the contest.
Medals tally of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.
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