Belgium SC rejects fugitive diamond trader Mehul Choksi’s appeal against extradition

Belgium’s supreme court — the Court of Cassation — on Tuesday rejected the appeal of fugitive diamond trader Mehul Choksi challenging the extradition request of India in connection with the Rs 13,000-crore alleged bank fraud in Punjab National Bank, authorities in that country said.

Choksi, who escaped to Antigua and Barbuda in January 2018, days before the scam was detected, was spotted in Belgium, where he had purportedly sought treatment. India had sent an extradition request to Belgium on August 27, 2024, based on arrest warrants issued by a special court in Mumbai.

A spokesperson for Court of Cassation said, “The court rejected the appeal. So, the decision of the Court of Appeal stands.” The process of his extradition will begin now, officials said.

The Antwerp Court of Appeal had upheld India’s request for Choksi’s extradition while terming it “enforceable”.

A four-member indictment chamber at the Court of Appeals in Antwerp did not find any infirmity in the orders issued by the pre-trial chamber of the district court on November 29, 2024, terming the arrest warrants issued by the Mumbai special court in May 2018 and June 2021 as “enforceable”, allowing Choksi’s extradition.

The Court of Appeals had ruled that Choksi, the main accused in Rs 13,000-crore PNB scam, faces “no risk” of being denied a fair trial or subjected to ill-treatment if he is extradited to India.

The Court of Cassation only checks the decision of the court of appeal “on legal aspects” such as whether the court of appeal correctly applied the legal dispositions, and whether they follow the right procedure, Vanderlinden had said last month.