The Dominica High Court has granted bail to fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, allowing him to travel to Antigua and Barbuda and noted that bail was being granted to him strictly for medical treatment of his neurological condition in Antigua local media said. The court has granted a consent order by Choksi’s legal team permitting him to go to Antigua, where he has been staying as a citizen since 2018 after he left India. The court has asked him to depositing 10,000 Eastern Caribbean dollars (approximately ₹2.75 lakh) as security.
The court has also stayed the ongoing trial before a magistrate for his alleged illegal entry into Dominica on May 23, till his return, it said. The court order has come as a major jolt to Indian efforts to bring back Choksi, wanted in the ₹13,500-crore scam in the Punjab National Bank, from Dominica, where he was held for illegal entry after his disappearance from Antigua and Barbuda.
Choksi’s lawyer Vijay Aggarwal said interim bail has been granted till “he is certified fit to travel” and after that, he has to come back to Dominica. “Dominica courts finally upheld the rule of law and rights of a human to be treated in the medical facilities of his choice,” he added
