One of India's most sought fugitive tycoon Mehul Choksi has been purchasing security in Antigua by paying a slew of authorities, according to Kenneth Rijock, a financial crimes investigator, news agency ANI reported.
In a news story on Blogger, Rijock revealed bombshell discoveries about Mehul Choksi's bribery plot in Antigua, where officials are interfering with Interpol's efforts to arrest him for extradition to India.
Choksi, he said, had been plotting to illegally prolong the judicial process in Antigua by paying bribes to government officials, including top Antigua police official Adonis Henry.
According to many witnesses, Choksi and Inspector Henry have been meeting at least three times each day at Al Porto, a Jolly Harbor restaurant allegedly owned by Choksi, stated Rijock in his financial crime blog.
Choksi not only approached Henry, but also attempted to sway Antigua magistrate Conliffe Clarke through unlawful bribes.
Choksi has corruptly induced Clarke to forever prolong his pending extradition by illicit bribes given only for dilatory objectives, stated Rijock in his blog post.
Rijock stated that his sources revealed that Clarke and Henry plotted to obstruct Interpol's efforts to detain him for extradition to India.
Rijock's story, which is substantiated by facts, tells how the diamond trader failed to flee from Antigua to Cuba and then made up a kidnapping narrative.
Choksi planned to flee to Cuba from Antigua to evade extradition because Cuba and India do not have an extradition treaty. According to the investigation, the Indian fugitive was dropped off the shore of Dominica in May 2021 after refusing to pay the agreed-upon payment to the smugglers' crew of the ship taking him to Cuba.
Despite the fact that an Antiguan court ordered Choksi's extradition to his native India, where he allegedly stole millions of dollars, corrupt government officials, judges, and law enforcement agents in Antigua have successfully delayed the proceeding, but only after the illicit receipt of bribes.
Choksi, a billionaire as a result of deceptive consumer business tactics and huge bank fraud, has evaded Indian prosecution for several years after obtaining a Citizenship by Investment (CIP/CBI) passport in Antigua, despite an ongoing Interpol Red Notice demanding his arrest.
Interpol has issued a Red Notice to the fugitive who was implicated in the Punjab National Bank Scam before fleeing India in 2018.
A Red Notice is a request to find and arrest a person awaiting extradition. It is not an international arrest warrant, but it is issued by the General Secretariat at the request of a member country or an international tribunal based on a valid national arrest warrant.
PNB claims that two of its employees "fraudulently" issued LoUs and conveyed SWIFT instructions to Indian banks' foreign operations. This was done to increase the buyer's credit for a diamond merchant's company without involving the banking system.
According to the bank, one such fake letter of undertaking (LoU) issue occurred in January 2018, the trail of which disclosed the whole plan.
(With Inputs From ANI)