Mehul Choksi has been scheming to illegally prolong the court docket course of in Antigua. (File picture)

Saint John’s:

Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi has been shopping for safety in Antigua by bribing a string of officers in line with investigations performed by Kenneth Rijock, a famend monetary crimes investigator.

Rijock made surprising revelations in a information article on Blogger in opposition to Mehul Choksi’s bribery and conspiracy in Antigua, the place officers are interfering with Interpol’s efforts to detain him for extradition to India.

He mentioned that Choksi has been scheming to illegally prolong the court docket course of in Antigua, by paying bribes to authorities officers, together with senior Antigua police official, Adonis Henry.

Multiple witnesses report that Choksi and Inspector Henry have been assembly not less than thrice a day at Al Porto, a Jolly Harbor restaurant reportedly owned by Choksi, wrote Rijock in his monetary crime weblog.

Choksi not solely reached out to Henry but additionally tried to affect Antigua Justice of the Peace Conliffe Clarke via unlawful funds.

Choksi has corruptly influenced Clarke, via unlawful funds, made purely for dilatory functions, to indefinitely delay his pending extradition, wrote Rijock in his weblog put up.

Rijock mentioned that his sources confirmed that Clarke and Henry conspired collectively to intrude with Interpol’s efforts to detain him for extradition to face the music in India.

Rijock’s article, supported by varied details, describes how the diamond service provider didn’t flee from Antigua to Cuba after which fabricated a kidnapping situation.

Choksi meant to flee from Antigua to Cuba to keep away from extradition since Cuba and India don’t have an extradition treaty. The Indian fugitive was dumped off on the coast of Dominica in May 2021, after he refused to pay the agreed-upon cost to the smugglers’ crew of the ship transporting him to Cuba, in line with the investigator.

Although an Antiguan court docket ordered Choksi extradited to India, the place he allegedly stole the equal of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}, corrupt authorities officers, judges and legislation enforcement brokers in Antigua have efficiently delayed the continuing, however solely after the illicit receipt of considerable bribes.

Choksi, a billionaire resulting from fraudulent client enterprise practices, and main financial institution fraud, has prevented Indian justice for a number of years, after he obtained a Citizenship by Investment (CIP/CBI) passport in Antigua, however an impressive Interpol Red Notice in search of his arrest.

Interpol has issued a Red discover in opposition to the fugitive who had been concerned within the Punjab National Bank Scam in India earlier than fleeing the nation in 2018.

A Red Notice is a request to find and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition. It is issued by the General Secretariat on the request of a member nation or a global tribunal based mostly on a sound nationwide arrest warrant and it isn’t a global arrest warrant.

PNB has alleged that two of its workers had “fraudulently” issued LoUs and transmitted SWIFT directions to the abroad branches of Indian Banks. This was accomplished to boost the client’s credit score for the agency of a diamond service provider with out making entries within the financial institution system.

The financial institution has alleged that one such fraudulent letter of endeavor (LoU) issuance came about on January 2018, the path of which revealed your entire design.