Mehul Choksi’s extradition suspended after appeal to Belgium SC

Fugitive diamond trader Mehul Choksi has filed an appeal before Belgium’s Supreme Court, challenging the October 17 ruling of the Antwerp Court of Appeal that upheld India’s request for his extradition. The appellate court had earlier termed India’s request “enforceable" rejecting Choksi’s claims of political persecution and risk of unfair treatment. However, with this new appeal filed on October 30, the execution of the extradition stands suspended.

In a response to queries by a news agency, Advocate General Ken Witpas from the Antwerp Court of Appeal confirmed that the case is now before the Court of Cassation, Belgium’s Supreme Court. “This appeal is strictly limited to legal merits and will be judged by the Court of Cassation. During this procedure, the execution of the extradition is suspended,” Witpas said. The court will now review whether the Antwerp ruling was legally sound.

Choksi, owner of the Gitanjali Group, is accused of siphoning off Rs 6,400 crore through fraudulent Letters of Undertaking and Foreign Letters of Credit obtained from Punjab National Bank. The scam, which surfaced in 2018, involved his nephew Nirav Modi and several bank officials. Nirav Modi was arrested in London in 2019 and remains in custody while contesting extradition to India. The fraud caused losses exceeding Rs 13,000 crore to PNB. This marked one of India’s biggest banking scandals.

Choksi fled India in January 2018 and took citizenship in Antigua and Barbuda, where he initially sought refuge. Reports suggest that he later travelled to Belgium, purportedly for medical treatment. India sent an extradition request to Belgium in August 2024, which was followed by legal proceedings initiated by the public prosecutor at the Court of First Instance in Antwerp. Both the district and appellate courts ruled that the warrants from Mumbai were enforceable and dismissed his contention that the proceedings against him were politically motivated.