Mumbai: In a temporary respite for fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, a Dominican Court has ordered the authorities of the country not to remove him till further orders. The court is likely to hear his plea on Friday.
Choksi along with nephew Nirav Modi is named in a probe by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Rs 14,000 crore money laundering case and fraud case pertaining to the Punjab National Bank (PNB).
Confirming the development, Choksi's counsel Vijay Aggarwal said, "We have filed a habeas corpus petition in the Dominican Court and have made Attorney general of Commonwealth of Dominica and chief of police as the respondents. The court upon hearing our plea for some time has ordered a restraint on removing my client from the land of Dominica until further order."
"The court has also permitted legal assistance and access to lawyers to Choksi. The plea shall be heard now on Friday morning," Aggarwal added.
This development comes after the CID there apprehended Choksi, who entered the Carribean Island of Dominica illegally. The officials reportedly said he would be sent back to Antigua, from where Choksi had gone missing last week.
However, the Prime Minister of Antigua Gaston Browne has clearly said that the country won't accept Choksi back, even if he holds their citizenship. He has reportedly requested the Prime Minister of Dominica not to send Choksi back to Antigua and instead deport him to India, where he has to face the probe in a Rs 14,000 crore money laundering and fraud case.
Amid all these developments, the ED has maintained that this won't make any impact in it's ongoing probe. Special ED counsel Hiten Venegaonkar had earlier told FPJ that the anti-money laundering agency would continue with its probe and attaching his properties.
