A high court judge in Dominica will hear and rule on a bail application on Tuesday, June 8, 2021, for Indian fugitive Mehul Choksi who was denied bail by the Chief Magistrate.
A team of attorneys representing Choksi which includes Julien Prevost, Wayne Norde, Wayne Benjamin Marsh and Cara Shillingford-Marsh led by Queen’s Counsel (QC) Justin Simon in Antigua, filed the bail application in the high court on June 3, 2021.
Choksi, who has been in the Commonwealth of Dominica for over one week, pleaded not guilty to illegal entry at the Magistrate court on June 2, 2021, following a High court order.
The 62-year-old diamond tycoon who gained citizenship in Antigua and Barbuda, is wanted by the Indian judicial authorities for allegedly cheating the Punjab National Bank of over two billion US dollars, one of India’s largest bank fraud in decades.
The circumstances surrounding the mysterious appearance of the Indian fugitive on a remote beach in Dominica remain a mystery.
Whilst his attorneys alleged that he was kidnapped, beaten and unwillingly brought to Dominica, the police claim that he entered the shores illegally on May 24, 2021, at Toucari Beach and have charged him with that offence.
At the hearing in the Magistrate court, Acting Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Sherma Dalrymple pleaded with the court to not grant bail to the accused as she deemed him a “flight risk.”
The Prosecutor listed two grounds for her claim which included the fact that Choksi has an Interpol Red Notice against him as he is facing charges for 11 offences in India. Additionally, she revealed that the Antiguan government has instituted legal proceedings to have Choksi extradited.
However, one of the defendant’s attorneys, Wayne Norde, refuted the Prosecutors grounds for objection and informed the court that the Indian fugitive is not a flight risk considering his health conditions.
Norde stated the Interpol Red Notice and the extradition proceeding in the Antiguan court is more reason for Choksi not to leave Dominica.
He advised the Magistrate that stringent conditions can be added to the fugitive’s bail condition and proposed a bail sum of EC$10,000.00, double the maximum penalty for illegal entry, which Dalrymple asked the court not to consider.
The attorney further informed the court that Choksi had no pending criminal matter in Antigua, the country in which he attained citizenship in 2017 but a civil matter which demonstrates that he is of good character.
In handing down her decision, presiding Magistrate Candia Carrette-George sided with the Prosecutor and stated that given the “severity” of the matter, she is not convinced that Choksi will stay in Dominica to stand trial.
Bail was denied and the matter was adjourned to June 14, 2021, in the Roseau magistrate court.
Choksi has been a patient at the Dominica China Friendship Hospital (DCFH) since May 29, hence, the DPP made an application pursuant to section 212 of the Magistrate code of procedure requesting that the prisoner be brought before a magistrate every three days to be further remanded until he is discharged from the hospital.
Once discharged from the hospital, if bail is not granted, Choksi will appear before the court every seven days to be remanded until his trial has concluded.
Meantime, the High court has adjourned the Habeas Corpus matter sine die.
Choksi attorneys have filed an application for a writ of Habeas Corpus against the Chief of Police, Lincoln Corbette as well as the Attorney General, Levi Peters, claiming that he is unlawfully detained and requesting that he be deported back to Antigua, the court in which he came from.
At the last High court hearing of this matter –June 3 – presiding Judge, Justice Bernie Stephenson ordered that the attorneys for the applicant and the respondent file certain submission which she will rule on and set a date for the recommencement of the trial.
When the cool start to pass again, watch Dominicans conveniently forget this blatant disrespect to the nation done by Skerrit and vote him back into office. Souls sold for the cheapest price. He ensures you stay poor. so you can feel good when he gives you crumbs. Then says he that helping you with the sly smile he does like to give when he lying to people.
Send him back to antigua.
Norde stated the Interpol Red Notice and the extradition proceeding in the Antiguan court is more reason for Choksi not to leave Dominica–News Article
But what am I reading here?
So this man is a wanted man, arrived on the shores of Dominica by whatever reason it happened, but nothing to do with a friendly or social visit; and now his lawyers are claiming that Dominica must keep him on her shores to protect him from whatever the crime or crimes he is facing outside, including the place where he is now a citizen, do these people have a sane mind at all? I have the feeling that they do not and never had.
@Lizforsatan
Yes Liz, all the lawyers are sane..The question most Dominicans are asking is what kind of collaboration there were among Antigua, Dominica and India, that landed Choksi in Dominica????
Why is corrupt and liar Skerrit so
MOO MOO???. Is it that he believes that all Dominicans are like:
Kid on the Block
Gary
Man bites dogs
Lizforsatan
Realist aka Expat
Lin Clown?
@E. X.. It looks like Lizibet need to go back to school to read and comprehend.
It’s your PM Skerrit and his partner Gaston Browne that have us in that mess there right now..
Why can’t Dominica just send the man back to Antigua and finish with that. We should not be the one going through all of this.
Well Mr.. Choksi, if you did not have time to enjoy your $2B Loot… that’s it for you. Crapaud smoke your pipe.
No more brown envelopes for Dog bite man and Kid on the block… plus.
The factories are closing down…
When the Evil one is in control expect very evil things to happen. We have an evil government, and every imagination of the thoughts of their heart is only evil continually, according to Gen. 6:5 . But I am not surprised because 2Timothy 3:13 tells us that…”evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. So this so called case is nothing more than an evil ploy designed to deceive and mislead the nation. But my prayer over the last few years is Lord, deliver us from the Evil one. And folks Dominica will be delivered one day from the Evil one and Evil government!!!
Agreed. He should be “deported back to Antigua, the court in which he came from.” Let Gaston Browne deal with him.
And the drama that was unnecessarily brought upon us by alleged rouges and vagabonds in authority continues with no immediate end in sight. Until we take to the streets and jungles to fiercely engage those hell bent on destroying Ma Dominique.
Why does the magistrate care if Choksi runs away from Dominca? The man will be deported anyway so if he is a flight risk I don’t see the big issue she is raising, let him go to where he wants. This will minimize the negative press that Dominca will get if it sends the Caricom citizen to India against his will. The magistrate should also be concerned about the fact that the boat and it’s operators who entered Dominca illegally have not been brought to justice. If she isn’t concerned about them and the boat why the hell does she care that Choksi will run away? If she is concerned about justice, and she should be, then she should rethink her decision and rational. She’s making a mockery of the law.
AMEN!!! Are his lawyers not making this point? Noone is asking about these people.
So if he entered illegally, why was he beaten up so brutally and where are the culprits who brought him? More questions than answers.
Send the man back to Antigua. Period
From 2004, Dominica has been embroiled in corruption, and it has worsened with the passage of time.
Again:::
How did Choksi arrive in Dominica?
Was it on the 23rd or 25th of May?
If Choski is charged with illegal entry, then
what happened to the owner of the boat?
Is he in custody? If not, why not?
Why wasn’t he (Choski) immediately quarantined?
What happened to the other passengers on that vessel?
Is this a plan gone bad involving Antigua, Dominica and India?
Remember all Dominicans are not
Kid on the Block
Realist aka Expat
Gary
Clown
Lizforsatan
Man bites dog
ADMIN: The police claim he illegally entered the country on 24th of May 2021: https://dominicanewsonline.com/news/homepage/news/choksi-pleads-not-guilty-to-illegal-entry-into-dominica-matter-adjourned/