The trial of the alleged Indian fugitive and Antiguan citizen, Mehul Choksi, which was expected to begin in the Roseau Magistrate court today has been adjourned to June 25, 2021, due to a decline in the defendant’s health condition.
On June 2, 2021, the 62-year-old diamantaire who is wanted by Indian judicial authorities for allegedly cheating the Punjab National Bank of almost two billion US dollars, India’s largest bank fraud in decades, pleaded not guilty to illegal entry in Dominica.
According to the charge of the police, Choksi entered Dominica illegally on May 24, 2021, at Toucari Beach. However his attorneys alleged that he was kidnapped, beaten and unwillingly brought to Dominica from Antigua.
At the hearing today, two of Dominica’s top criminal attorneys were added to Choksi’s legal team for this matter. Zena Moore-Dyer and her daughter Gina Dyer-Munro have joined Julien Prevost, Wayne Norde and Cara Shillingford-Marsh.
The defense attorneys presented to the court a medical document which stated that Choksi is incapacitated and as a result, he was unable to attend the proceeding.
The prosecution team also saw the addition of Harpreet Singh Giani, an Indian-born lawyer based in London, England who said he appears as a consultant to the prosecution on the matter.
The States case is led by the acting Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Sherma Dalrymple, with assistance from attorney-at-law Lennox Lawrence, Jodie Luke and Heather Felix Evans.
Choksi is remanded in police custody at the Dominica China Friendship Hospital (DCFH) where he has been a patient since May 29, 2021.
On June 11, a High court judge denied bail to the alleged fugitive on the basis that he is a “flight risk.”
Mr Choksi will be in Dominica for a long time to come because UWP lawyers trying to milk him for all they can get that means big money!
If all else fails, mr. Choksi could apply for refugee status, under the 1951 UN Human Rights Convention, claiming that his life would be imperilled if returned to his country of birth. At least it would buy him some valuable time but leave Dominica with unwanted publicity and a big headache.
What IBO FRANCE and the UWP traitors will not tell us is both Antigua(1986) and Dominica(1981) are members of INTREPOL.The UWP know if they make this case a political case INTERPOL will not intervene.Some people are being paid to keep CHOKSI in Dominica and to prevent him from being extradited to India.
…perhaps your PM? He is one of the few ones in DA who has FORM in this respect.
Mr. Choksi is an infirm person. God forbid, but, if he is to die on Dominican soil even of natural causes, could you imagine the worldwide negative publicity.
Deport the man back to his country (Antigua) . Disentangle Dominica from Gaston Browne’s tangled web of deception.
Tell the Honorable Lennox Linton, that he must give us, (Dominicans) a National Holiday on the date the trap catches the RAT. We want our Freedom back soon and very soon.
@Rat – Rat, cut that crap off your head is not functioning properly.
Choksi is BAT-MAN. One day he’ll just fly back to Antigua the same way he “flew” from Antigua to Dominica. Dominica Police is the best, look they catch a BAT-MAN.
If we are brutally forthright, Choksi ended up in Dominica with the diligent efforts of a tripartite sovereign criminal enterprise.
If this abduction as claimed by the victim is allowed to stand then every one of us is in great danger of being abducted and disappear without a trace of evidence.
Dominica has no business to be entangled in this Choksi affair. This should involve just Antigua and India. This has taught me that when a leader is corrupt weak and unintelligent he/she get used like bathroom tissue.
When will all of this nonsense stop? Why is this illegal entrant to Dominica being handled in such an uncommon fashion as other illegal entrants in times past? When they are arrested, taken to Magistrates Court, convicted, fined and ordered deported forthwith. Why not this one? Who is a citizen of Antigua (for the moment). Who seemingly revoked his Indian citizenship when he became a citizen of Antigua a few years back.
Time to be a little bit careful here, Dominica. It has already been in the media that Antigua is working, post-haste, to rescind his Antigua citizenship. And, if that happens then the man will be stateless under International law and Dominica will be stuck with him indefinitely.
Of course, none of this nonsense was in the original plan to spirit the man out of Antigua to a territory that had no mutual legal agreements with India that would have required due legal process to invoke. To a place where he could be carried ashore and thence to a waiting plane…
Hope he don’t end up dead!!
Imagine the international uproar and scandal, and the denigration of Dominica’s already troubled reputation, if this man was to die in custody. What is this pretense of trial and all of that. The man came illegally from Antigua where they have admitted he is a citizen, and was previously residing, just send him back to Antigua, and let them deal with the solution. The fact that he is still in Dominica, with a trial pending, meaning he will spend more time here, leads one to believe there is a lot more to this story than they are telling the public. How can a man “mysteriously” appear on a beach in Dominica, and the police (the chief too) *according to Choksi’s account* be there to meet and arrest him. Somebody explain to me how on all days that past, the day this man arrives is the day the police just happen to be taking a stroll on that beach? The smell of all this is getting worse. If all is as they say, then simply SEND THE MAN BACK TO ANTIGUA!!
So the Government of India has sent an Indian Lawyer from London to join the Government of Dominica in its attempt to prosecute Mehul Choksi for a charge of illegal entry into Dominica! Really? You mean to tell me that the Dominica Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Sherma Dalrymple, with assistance from attorney-at-law Lennox Lawrence, Jodie Luke and Heather Felix Evans, are not enough lawyers for the Government side to handle a case of illegal entry into Dominica? Well Haitians be warned!
So you see Dominicans? Do you see who is calling the shots in this Dominica prosecution case? No? I know, these days Dominicans like to play dumb, dotish, ignorant and stupid because truth is steering you in the face! One thing with my Dominican people, the truth will not and does not set you all free! The truth have to choke Dominicans, toufay! Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit ka fe zor toufay! Dishonest, hypocrites and parasites will do anything even deceive themselves for Labour party favours!
This court case is a farce. It’s a mockery of the Justice System.
All corrupt leaders use the same playbook. They use the armed forces and the courts to intimidate, incarcerate and eliminate their opponents. Corrupt deals are a staple of these tyrannical autocrats.
How did Choksi arrive on our shores? Are there characters from Dominica, Antigua, India, etc involved?
If so, nail them to the cross, and jail the key characters…
There is a “”moo moo ness” among some people who normally have a lot of “”GWAN GEL”” in Dominica..I wonder why!! Was Choksi abducted?
The human rights of all individuals have to be respected, and Choksi is no exception!!!
What is certain is that Gaston has shoved the hot potato into Dominicas chief liar mouth, and he has to deal with it..