Citizen bane

India claims he is still Indian. Fugitive diamond trader Mehul Choksi claims he is an Antiguan citizen. Dominica has to decide and, possibly, set a precedent for runaway fraudsters

- NAMRATA BIJI AHUJA

THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT has landed virtually in Dominican courts to get Mehul Choksi deported. With its investigators failing to get their hands on the fugitive diamond trader, India has, for now, decided against dispatching a legal team to Dominica.

But the long arm of the law is after him, with former solicitor general Harish Salve (Queen's Counsel) using video links to assist investigators in untying the legal knots Choksi has created to stay put in the Caribbean.

India recently filed an affidavit in the Dominican high court—on behalf of the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate—claiming that Choksi was an Indian citizen who was fleeing the law. The CBI and the ED are investigating Choksi's role in the ₹13,500 crore Punjab National Bank fraud case; his nephew Nirav Modi is in a London jail in the same case.

Investigators are confident that Salve's involvement will not only pave the way for Choksi's return, but will also set a precedent for those who buy a new nationality to escape the law after committing fraud.

The ED is currently chasing another diamond trader who has given up his Indian citizenship for a Saint Kitts one. Another was trying for citizenship of Saint Lucia. The Caribbean, with its paid citizenship programmes, has been a favourite haunt of fugitives. Sleuths said facilities provided to passport holders of these tiny nations, like visa-free travel to more than a hundred countries, is a huge attraction for scamsters. Such citizenships can be retained by just spending a few days on the island.