Mumbai: The Bombay High Court Tuesday sought to know from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) if an accused has the right to participate in proceedings before a special court to determine if he/she is a fugitive economic offender. The query was made by a division bench of Justices I A Mahanty and A M Badar while hearing two petitions filed by diamantaire Mehul Choksi, accused in the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam. In one petition Choksi has sought dismissal of a plea filed by the ED in a lower court for him to be declared fugitive economic offender, and in the second to permit him to cross-examine those persons on whose statements the ED is relying to declare Choksi a fugitive economic offender.
Choksi's advocate Vijay Aggarwal on Tuesday argued that the diamond businessman, who is presently out of India, was unable to travel to the country due to persistent health issues. He said Choksi's advocates should be permitted to cross-examine witnesses so as to prove to the court that he (Choksi) was unable to travel and was not evading prosecution. The ED's lawyer, Hiten Venegaonkar, however, opposed both the petitions and said Choksi left the country only to avoid the proceedings and was not cooperating with the probe.
