In a statement, Antigua has clarified that Mehul Choksi was granted the citizenship after all the necessary documents were received including a police clearance certificate and documentary clearance from the Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) against Mehul Choksi.
“We requested updates on the status of the investigations and received documentary confirmation, issued by the SEBI stating that in one case, the matter had been satisfactorily closed, and indicating in the other that there is not sufficient evidence to pursue the matter further,” the statement read.
However, SEBI has retaliated saying that they neither received any request nor did they provide any information to the Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU) of Antigua.
Choksi’s application was received by The Citizenship By Investment Unit (CIU) in May 2017 and he was granted Antiguan citizenship in November last year.
ANTIGUA CLARIFIES
In a detailed statement, Antigua has also said that Choksi’s application, along with clearance from government of India, was subjected to a stringent background check which included third party verification, internet check and Thomson Reuters world-check.
“The police certificate from the Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs Regional Passport Office, Mumbai, certified that there was no adverse information against Mr. Mehul Chinubbhai Choksi which would render him ineligible for grant of travel facilities including visa for Antigua and Barbuda,” the statement read.
“In no instance was any derogatory information disclosed on the applicant,” the statement added.
However, the statement does mention that while the checks were being conducted, documents related to two instances had popped up in which SEBI had opened investigations into an entity owned by Choksi. The first probe was in 2014 and the second in 2017.
“We requested updates on the status of the investigations and received documentary confirmation, issued by the SEBI stating that in one case, the matter had been satisfactorily closed, and indicating in the other that there is not sufficient evidence to pursue the matter further,” the statement read.
The CIU has also claimed that if there was a warrant against Choksi in India while his application was being processed, the information should have been made available to the Interpol.
SEBI STATEMENT
After Antigua referred to the Security and Exchange Board of India in its statement, SEBI has issued a clarification saying:
“SEBI has neither received any request from the Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU) of Antigua for updates on any investigation nor provided any such information to CIU”.
NIRAV MODI & CHOKSI’S EXTRADITION
The Ministry of Home Affairs has forwarded CBI's extradition request to the Ministry of External Affairs for fugitive Mehul Choksi, reported ANI.
The government has also sent a request to the UK for extraditing fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, who is wanted in the Rs 13,500-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, the parliament has been informed.
“An extradition request has been received in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for the extradition of Nirav Modi from the UK,” Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, 2 August.
WHAT IS THE CASE?
The case pertains to cheating State-run Punjab National Bank through fraudulent issuance of Letters of Undertaking and Foreign Letters of Credit worth over USD 2 billion (about Rs 13,000 crore) by Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi.
Modi along with his wife Ami Modi, a US citizen, brother Nishal Modi, a Belgian citizen, and uncle Mehul Choksi, all named in the CBI FIRs in the case, had left the country in the first week of January, weeks before the country's biggest banking scam surfaced.
Nirav Modi managed to travel across several countries even after information about his passport being revoked by the Indian government was flashed in the Interpol central database on 24 February, the CBI had earlier said.
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