‘The Great Escape’ of Mehul Choksi, With Help From the Top

Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, whom Prime Minister Narendra Modi had once addressed “Hamare Mehul Bhai”, has released a video statement on September 11 to a news agency slamming the Indian authorities as being in the wrong for persecuting him. It appears that the central government’s agencies are deliberately leaving gaping holes in his repatriation and prosecution to India despite the Rs 23,484 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam.

Shocking details based on a Parliamentary reply dated July 24, 2018 as also details from Antigua’s Citizenship By Investment Unit (CIU) have lifted the cover from the “sins” committed by every organ of the Modi government – the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), etc that allegedly “facilitated” and gave a “clean chit” to Choksi. 

It also conclusively exposes the “barrage of lies” that ministers in the Modi government were trying to plant in the mainstream media. Documents accessed by Newsclick reveal the involvement of the government in the mega scam.

The papers suggest that the PMO, the CBI, the ED, the SEBI, the SFIO (Serious Fraud Investigation Office) and the Maharashtra and Gujarat governments ignored evidence of fraud and multiple complaints against Nirav Modi/Mehul Choksi from May 7, 2015 onwards.

A complaint against Choksi dated May 7, 2015 was filed at the Ministry of Corporate Affairs by one Vaibhav Khuraniya and R.M. Green Solution Private Limited. A copy was also sent to the PMO, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the SFIO. A copy of the complaint is with Newsclick, which is also in possession of a copy of the courier receipt and a copy of the reply by the PMO dated May 26, 2015.

A similar complaint was filed to Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mumbai. Another person named Digvijay Sinh Jadeja filed a first information report (FIR) in Ahmedabad Economic Offences Wing, Gujarat, against Choksi and others for defrauding him. The matter went to the Gujarat High Court, where the Government of Gujarat was a party in a Special Criminal Application No. 4758 of 2015. Jadeja filed an affidavit on July 20, 2016 specifically pointing out that Choksi and others owed a debt of Rs 9,872 crore to banks and are likely to escape from India.

A complaint dated July 26, 2016 in this regard was filed by one Hariprasad to the PMO, which is already in the public domain.

On May 3, 2017, Khuraniya also emailed the complaint to the SEBI, which was duly registered. A copy of the online complaint registration receipt is available with Newsclick.

Shockingly, in reply to a Parliament question dated July 24 this year, the PMO admitted that the first report of action against Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi was given to the PMO by the Finance Department on March 1, 2018. But Nirav Modi had already escaped India on January 1 and Mehul Choksi on January 4.

The alleged complicity of the PMO and the Finance Ministry in escape of the duo is thus writ large. A press statement by the Citizenship Investment Unit of Antigua & Barbuda reveals as to how the MEA provided a ‘Clean Chit’ certificate for Choksi’s citizenship of Antigua in May 2017. The clearance certified that there was “no adverse information” against Choksi.

Antigua’s Citizenship Investment Unit (CIU) also states that the SEBI had also given “clean chit certificate” to Choksi.

Protection by the CBI and the EDI of the fugitive offender, Choksi, also stands exposed. The CIU states, “Were there an active warrant for Mr. Choksi at the time his citizenship application was being processed, this information should have already been made available to INTERPOL, a notification of which would have been readily accessible by the CIU and its due diligence partners. Further, the warrant should have formed a part of the criminal records database in India and therefore declared in the police clearance certificate issued by Ministry of External Affairs.”

It shows that the INTERPOL gave clearance to Choksi, as the CBI and the ED failed to get a warrant issued against him or provide the requisite evidence to the INTERPOL.

PM Modi met Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne on April 20, 2018 on the side lines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in the United Kingdom. In an interview to a major television channel on July 27, 2018, the Antigua PM said that the Indian government never approached them on fugitive diamond jeweller Choksi who has secured citizenship of the Caribbean country. 

It means that even PM Modi never raised the issue of Choksi during his meeting on April 20, 2018.

On 11 September, Choksi said in a video that Indian authorities had sent him an email suspending his passport on February 16, 2018. As brought out above, the MEA and other authorities had already given him a “clean chit” in May 2017 for securing the citizenship of Antigua. Admittedly, Choksi had become citizen of Antigua in Nov 2017.

It is intriguing that the Modi government permitted Choksi’s Indian passport to remain live until February 16, 2018, allegedly helping him escape on January 4, 2018.

The sequence of events raises several questions:

1. Why did the PMO not act despite the complaint dated May 7, 2015 and May 26, 2015 nor direct the MEA, the CBI, the ED, the SEBI and the SFIO to act? Does it not put a question mark on the role of the PMO? Why did the PMO wait till March 1, 2018 to get a report on the fraud by Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi? Does it not prove their complicity in the matter?
2. Why did the MEA provide “clean chit certificate” to Choksi in the Rs 23,484 crore PNB Scam in May 2017, despite the complaints and evidence being available 2 years earlier i.e. May 7, 2015, May 26, 2015, July 20, 2016, July 26, 2016 and May 3, 2017?
3. Why did the SEBI give a “clean chit” to Choksi to help him secure the citizenship of Antigua?
4. Why did the CBI and the ED not move the INTERPOL for a warrant against Choksi or provide the requisite evidence of criminal fraud against him? Is it not correct that this deliberate failure on part of the CBI and the ED in providing evidence to the INTERPOL led to the INTERPOL giving a clean chit to Choksi?
5. Why did PM Narendra Modi not raise the issue of Antigua’s citizenship being granted to Choksi, during his meeting with Antigua PM Gaston Browne in April, 2018?