Fugitive Mehul Choksi challenges extradition in Belgium Supreme Court

Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi has challenged before the Supreme Court of Belgium the October 17 order of the Antwerp Court of Appeals, which had termed India's request seeking his extradition "enforceable", officials said on Monday.

In response to queries sent by the PTI, the public prosecutor at the Court of Appeal in Antwerp said Choksi filed an appeal in the Court of Cassation on October 30.

"This appeal is strictly limited to legal merits and will be judged by the Court of Cassation. During this procedure, the execution of the extradition is suspended," Ken Witpas said.

The Court of Cassation is the Supreme Court of Belgium.

On October 17, a four-member indictment chamber at the Court of Appeals in Antwerp found no infirmity in the orders issued by the pre-trial chamber of the district court on November 29, 2024, terming the arrest warrants issued by a Mumbai special court in May 2018 and June 2021 as "enforceable", allowing Choksi's extradition.

The Court of Appeals ruled that fugitive Choksi, the main accused in a 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.

Of the Rs 13,000-crore scam, Choksi alone has siphoned off Rs 6,400 crore, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has alleged in its chargesheet.

Choksi, who escaped to Antigua and Barbuda in January 2018, days before the scam was detected, was spotted in Belgium, where he had purportedly reached for seeking treatment.

India sent an extradition request to Belgium on August 27, 2024, based on arrest warrants issued by the special court in Mumbai.

The public prosecutor at the Court of First Instance in Antwerp, Division Turnhout, initiated an action on November 25, 2024, seeking the enforcement of arrest warrants issued by the Mumbai court.

The pre-trial chamber of the Antwerp District Court, Turnhout Division, in its order dated November 29, 2024, declared that the arrest warrants against Choksi issued by the Mumbai court were enforceable, except for the order related to "causing the disappearance of evidence of the crime".

India has given a number of assurances to Belgium regarding Choksi's safety, the charges that he would face during trial in India, prison arrangements, human rights and medical needs.