Fugitive in nearly $2bn Indian bank fraud nabbed in Belgium

NEW DELHI: Mehul Choksi, the fugitive jeweller wanted in connection with one of India’s largest bank frauds, has been arrested in Belgium, a source at the Enforcement Directorate told Reuters.

Choksi, who has been on the run for several years, was taken into custody nearly seven years after the scandal first surfaced. The Indian government had already submitted an extradition request prior to his arrest, though the source noted that Choksi is expected to contest the move on medical grounds.

The case dates back to 2018, when Punjab National Bank (PNB), India’s second-largest state-owned lender by assets, revealed that it had uncovered fraudulent transactions amounting to $1.8 billion at a single branch in Mumbai.

The bank had filed a criminal complaint with India's federal investigative agency against several entities, including billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi and Choksi, his uncle and the managing director of Gitanjali Gems, saying they had defrauded PNB.

Indian federal police filed fraud charges against Choksi, Nirav Modi and others in connection with suspected involvement in fraudulent transactions that led to huge losses for PNB.

The two diamond tycoons have denied any wrongdoing.

Choksi said in a letter in 2018 that the "investigating agencies were acting with pre-determined minds and interfering with the course of justice."

Reuters was unable to immediately contact his lawyer on Monday.

Nirav Modi fled India in 2018 before details of his alleged role in the case became public. He was arrested in Britain in 2019 and remains in custody there, although he has lost one extradition appeal.

Last week, a Pakistani-born Canadian businessman accused of helping orchestrate the 2008 attacks in Mumbai landed in New Delhi after the US extradited him in the first such transfer in a terrorism case.