PNB scam: Choksi seeks dismissal of ED’s plea to declare him fugitive economic offender

Mumbai: Diamantaire Mehul Choksi has moved the special PMLA court here seeking dismissal of the Enforcement Directorate’s plea to declare him a ‘fugitive economic offender’ in the multi-million dollar Punjab National Bank scam.

Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are the prime accused in the PNB fraud that came to light in 2018.

He has sought the cancellation of ED’s application, contending that the agency has repeatedly changed its stance with its pleadings concerning material and grounds, based on which it claims the scam accused should be declared a fugitive economic offender.

ED wants Choksi to be declared a fugitive economic offender and his properties to be confiscated.

In his plea filed in the special court, hearing cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), earlier this month through advocate Rahul Agarwal, Choksi cited multiple pleas and replies by ED to highlight its "contradictory" versions.

As per Choksi’s plea, ED claimed that he left the country under suspicious circumstances in the first week of January 2018 and deliberately avoided joining the probe despite repeated summons for his appearance.

Accordingly, Choksi’s passport was revoked on February 23, 2018, and a non-bailable warrant was issued against him.

However, ED later filed a rejoinder, changing its earlier position, said the plea.

The accused had tried to dispose of his properties before fleeing the country as he had anticipated the fraud would be unearthed and he would be arrested, ED claimed citing “evidence collected during investigation”, said Choksi’s plea.

In April this year, ED took a new turn while filing a court-directed compliance report by claiming that the accused had applied for a visa to Antigua and Barbuda as he was planning to leave India and obtain citizenship of the Caribbean nation, Choksi’s plea said.

Therefore, it can be seen that ED at each turn and pleading is taking a "new, different and completely contradictory" stance, Choksi said.

He urged the court to dismiss the probe agency’s application, seeking to declare him a fugitive economic offender, on the grounds of “playing fraud” on the special court.

The matter will be next heard on September 27.

As per the Fugitive Economic Offender Act, any individual against whom a warrant has been issued over a scheduled offence by any court in India and he has left the country to “avoid criminal prosecution, or being abroad, refuses to return to the country to face criminal prosecution”, can be declared a fugitive economic offender.

Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly duping the PNB of Rs 13,400 crore in collusion with a few of its employees.

The ED has moved the PMLA court seeking that Choksi be declared a fugitive economic offender for evading its summons and that his properties be confiscated under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.

Nirav Modi has already been declared a fugitive economic offender and has been in jail in London since 2019.