- The name of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi has been removed from the Interpol database of Red Notices.
- As per Interpol, a Red Notice or a Red Corner Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action. A Red Notice is not equivalent to an arrest warrant.
- Mehul Choksi is one of the prime accused in the multi-crore Punjab National Bank scam. Choksi allegedly connived with bank officials to get fraudulent Letters of Undertaking.
- Choksi topped the list of wilful defaulters in India, defaulting on loans to the tune of Rs 7,848 crore.
- CBI continues to exercise available remedial and appellate options within INTERPOL for rectification of this faulty decision and for restoration of Red Notice.
- Interpol is yet to make an official comment on the matter.
The name of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi was removed in December 2018, from the Interpol database of Red Notices on the basis of his plea to the Lyon-headquartered agency, reports said. Four years after adding Choksi’s name to its Red List, Interpol’s decision came as a huge setback for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Indian government.
The Red Notice list is updated regularly by the Interpol General Secretariat based on information provided by countries requesting the issuance and publication of such notices. The notice is now unavailable on Interpol’s website.
As per Interpol, a Red Notice or a Red Corner Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action A Red Notice does not equivalent to an arrest warrant. Member countries need to apply their own laws to decide whether or not to arrest the concerned person.
Mehul Choksi is one of the prime accused in the multi-crore Punjab National Bank scam. Choksi allegedly connived with bank officials to get fraudulent Letters of Undertaking and Foreign Letters of Credit issued to companies owned or controlled by him. In Choksi’s case, no securities were kept by the PNB. Nirav Modi, Choksi’s nephew and a diamond merchant himself, is also an accused in the case. Multiple cases were filed against Choksi pertaining to loan fraud, cheating and financial misappropriation. As per data submitted by the Ministry of Finance in December 2021, Choksi topped the list of wilful defaulters in India, defaulting on loans to the tune of Rs 7,848 crore.
Choksi had reportedly fled the country before the scam was uncovered. Over the last 5 years, the PNB scam has been the subject of a political slugfest between the BJP and opposition parties. Mehul Choksi was added to Interpol’s Red List in December 2018 on CBI’s request. Choksi had challenged the issuance of the Red Corner Notice (RCN), citing ‘human rights violation’. But the CBI had contested it.
The revocation of the RCN means that Choksi can travel to any other country, apart from India, where he faces multiple cases, at will. It effectively means, he is a free man, as long as he doesn’t set foot in India.
It’s an embarrassment for India’s premier investigative agency and they have much to answer for. The CBI official response said that: “…based on mere imaginary conjunctions and unproven surmises, a five member CCF chamber has taken a decision on deletion of Red Notice, communicated in November, 2022. Thereafter, CBI has taken up with CCF the serious shortcomings, procedural violations, over reach of mandate and mistakes committed by CCF in the manner of reaching this unfounded and perfunctory decision. CBI continues to exercise available remedial and appellate options within INTERPOL for rectification of this faulty decision and for restoration of Red Notice.”
The CBI however said that it is pursuing the revision of the decision to revoke the withdrawal of the red notice against Mehul Choksi even as it clarified that the red notice was not necessary for the extradition of the fugitive diamantaire.
The Congress has tweeted on the matter. “PM (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi should answer when will your ‘Mehul Bhai’ be brought back to the country,” the party said.
Interpol is yet to make an official comment on the matter.
