Court rejects plea from Mehul Choksi seeking to overturn his status as fugitive economic offender

Mumbai: The special court on Friday rejected the plea filed by Mehul Choksi, seeking to recall the proceedings initiated to declare him as a fugitive economic offender (FEO) in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.

Asserting that the court cannot recall its own order, the judge reasoned that the FEO order was passed neither on wrong facts or mistaken assumption.

In September, Choksi’s lawyer moved an application before the court, questioning the proceedings initiated to declare his client as FEO.

The lawyer argued that the court had to primarily satisfy two conditions; first, Choksi has left the country to avoid criminal prosecution and second that he has refused to return to India to face the criminal prosecution.

It was also contended that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had failed to show reasonable grounds to declare Choksi as fugitive, while repeatedly changing its stand.

The court, however, nixed the plea observing that it was not the ED, but Choksi who kept changing his positions.

It further underlined that it did not find any change in the agency’s stand rather the accused kept changing reasons to evade prosecution. The excuses ranged from medical grounds to suspension of passport by India, said the judge.

Choksi left India on January 2, 2018, claiming that he was heading for better medical treatment and subsequently an offence was registered in February.

Later, he said that his Indian passport was suspended hence he cannot return to India to participate in the investigation.

The ED, in its response, claimed that Choksi filed the plea six years after it moved a petition to declare him FEO.

ED prosecutors, Hiten venegavkar and Kavita Patil, contended that if he was so willing to join the probe, he could have approached a competent authority to return to India.

Recently, the special court gave nod to monetise Rs 2,565.90 crore properties linked to Choksi, which have been attached or seized.

The move aims to assist financial institutions, including the PNB and ICICI Bank, in recovering funds and utilising the assets productively, the ED officials had said. (SOURCE-FREE PRESS JOURNAL)

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