PNB fraud case: Mehul Choksi in Belgium for suspected cancer treatment, his lawyer tells court

A special PMLA court in Mumbai is hearing the Enforcement Directorate's plea to declare Choksi a fugitive economic offender (FEO)

Fugitive diamond trader Mehul Choksi, the prime accused in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, is currently in Belgium for medical treatment, a special court in Mumbai was told on Tuesday, reported news agency PTI.

Advocate Vijay Agarwal, who appeared on behalf of Choksi, told the court that he wants to file an application to bring on record certain health issues of his client.

Agarwal informed the court that Choksi is suspected to be suffering from cancer, PTI reported.

A special Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) Court in Mumbai is hearing the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) plea to declare Choksi a fugitive economic offender (FEO).

The FEO declaration allows the government to initiate action to confiscate the offender's properties, PTI reported.

Choksi, along with his nephew and fugitive diamond trader Nirav Modi, as well as their family members, employees, bank officials and others were booked by ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2018 for allegedly perpetrating the loan fraud at the Brady House branch of PNB in Mumbai.

Choksi has been staying in Antigua since 2018 after leaving India.

While Modi was declared FEO in 2019, the ED's plea against Choksi has been pending since 2018.

Choksi, his firm Gitanjali Gems, and others allegedly "committed the offence of cheating against PNB in connivance with certain bank officials by fraudulently getting the LoUs (letters of undertaking) issued and got the FLCs (foreign letter of credit) enhanced without following prescribed procedure".

The anti money-laundering agency filed three charge sheets against Choksi till now.

The ED in 2019 told the Bombay HC that Choksi was a "fugitive and absconder". 

In December 2024, the court had rejected Choksi's petition against a notice issued to him on the ED's application seeking to declare him FEO in the multi-million dollar PNB scam.

The diamond merchant, in his plea filed through advocates Vijay Agarwal and Rahul Agarwal, had then claimed that the central probe agency kept changing its arguments regarding the evidence and grounds on the basis of which it wants him declared an FEO.

The lawyers cited multiple pleas and replies of ED to show its "contradictory" arguments.

In the application seeking to declare Choksi as an FEO, the agency had claimed that he left the country under "suspicious circumstances" in the first week of January 2018. But in a rejoinder filed later, ED claimed that he had anticipated that the fraud would be unearthed, and hence he tried to dispose of his properties before fleeing the country, Choksi's lawyers had pointed out in December.

(With PTI inputs)

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