A fugitive businessman Mehul Chinubhai Choksi was arrested in a 1.4 billion rupees Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam in Belgium, marking an important shift in India’s efforts to bring him to justice. Choksi fled India in 2018 and faces charges of criminal conspiracy,
Cheating, breach of trust and money laundering. His arrest was a key pathway for the Indian government to strengthen extradition through legal and diplomatic channels.
The PNB scam is one of India’s largest bank frauds in the past 10 years, curated by Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi. The pair used fraudulent letters sent by PNB officials to raise loans between 2011 and 2017 and provided funding to overseas accounts. As Choksi exploited Swift Messagghts Protocal, the scam prompted several comprehensive reforms in internal control and enhanced oversight mechanisms in public sector banks.
After the CBI named Choksi, he initially fled to Antigua and Barbuda, a small Caribbean country, where he obtained citizenship under his investment plan and has been a fugitive in Indian law ever since. Despite his arrest in Belgium, Indian officials will have to navigate the complex extradition procedures in Europe.
Former wine baron Vijay Mallya was arrested in London in 2017 and Nirav Modi arrested in October 2019. However, both challenge the extradition process and manage to pause their rewards. If India’s goal is to shut down these legacy scams, its officials must redouble their efforts to convince the courts of the seriousness of the crime.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Law Enforcement Bureau must present a watertight case that meets European human rights standards while firmly establishing Choksi’s role in economic crime. India’s success in the Nirav Modi case may be a precedent in pursuing Choksi extradition. So, this arrest is not the end of the road, but it may eventually be the beginning of Choksi compulpance.
