PNB scam: Fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi arrested in Belgium
Fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi has been arrested in Belgium after India made an extradition request in connection with the Rs 13,000-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case, ANI reported on Monday.
Choksi, who is wanted by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate in India, was reportedly taken into custody on Saturday.
His lawyer Vijay Aggarwal on Monday confirmed his arrest. “We will be starting the process of filing an appeal against this, and then, as a process of appeal, we will be requesting that he be pulled out of prison,” he told ANI. “The major ground for the plea is his ill health and that he is undergoing cancer treatment.”
Choksi is one of the prime accused, along with his nephew Nirav Modi, in the PNB fraud case.
The fraud came to light in February 2018 when the bank informed the stock exchange BSE that it had detected “fraudulent and unauthorised transactions” worth Rs 11,380 crore at a branch in South Mumbai.
A few officials of the public sector bank had allegedly issued fraudulent Letters of Undertaking to Modi’s companies, resulting in the loss of Rs 6,097.6 crore to PNB.
Choksi had also defaulted on another loan he had taken from ICICI Bank.
He had fled India for Antigua and Barbuda in January 2018, a few weeks before the fraud came to light...
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