NEW DELHI: Antigua and Barbuda blamed Indian authorities, including market regulator Sebi and CBI, for not raising a red flag on Mehul Choksi when he applied for citizenship last year, but India debunked the Caribbean nation’s claim and asked it to extradite the diamantaire on the principles of “reciprocity and dual criminality”.

In a statement issued on Thursday night, Antigua’s citizenship by investment unit (CIU) said when Choksi applied for citizenship in May 2017, he provided a “police clearance certificate as required by Section 5(2)(b) of Antigua and Barbuda Citizenship by Investment Act 2013”.

The certificate, issued by the regional passport office, Mumbai, certified that “there was no adverse information against Mehul Chinubhai Choksi which would render him ineligible for grant of travel facilities including visa for Antigua and Barbuda”, CIU said on a day India moved to seek extradition of Choksi, thus meeting a crucial condition Antiguan PM Gaston Browne had put on Monday in response to India’s demand to send back the fugitive diamond trader.

Browne told V Mahalingam, Indian high commissioner to Guyana who also looks after the country’s interests in Antigua, that since Choksi was now an Antiguan national, India’s insistence that he be sent back to face the law could be met only if a request for his extradition was made.

Even as Congress quickly pounced on the claim of the Antiguan agency to allege collusion between the Modi government and the jeweller, the foreign ministry pointed out that the police clearance was issued to Choksi by the RPO Mumbai on March 16, 2017, i.e. two months before he applied for residence in Antigua, and was based on the police verification report available on his passport.

RPOs are authorised to issue PCC to any person whose PVR is clear in the system, sources said, emphasising that the “clearance certificate” was issued at least year before the PNB scam involving Choksi and Nirav Modi broke in February 2018.

However, it is suspected that Choksi got the PCC from the RPO himself and submitted it along with his application as it was not clear whether CIU had directly contacted the Mumbai RPO.

Choksi took Antiguan citizenship in November 2017 and was administered the oath of allegiance on January 15.

Sources also referred to the CIU statement to say that the authorities in Antigua had acknowledged that the PCC was sought and given for “travel facilities including visa for Antigua and Barbuda”.

The CIU, which seemed to keen to emphasise that it had not overlooked any criminal charge against Choksi while admitting his application for citizenship, also claimed that they had approached the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to verify Choksi’s credentials, inviting a rebuttal from the market regulator. The Antiguan agency claimed it was informed by Sebi that while it had opened two investigations against Choksi, one in 2014 and another in 2017, the first probe was “satisfactorily closed” while the second was “dropped for lack of evidence”.

“Sebi has neither received any request from the CIU of Antigua for updates on any investigation nor provided any such information to CIU,” the regulator said on Friday.

Significantly, CIU also emphasised that the allegations against Choksi probed by Sebi were not the “subject of of the current warrants issued by CBI in connection with Punjab National Bank”.

CBI also rebutted CIU’s claim that it had approached the Indian investigating agency for a background check on Choksi. Faced with the denial, the Antiguans argued that they had contacted Interpol which should have been aware of any pending case against Choksi.

“The CIU maintains that its background investigations include Interpol. Were there an active warrant for Choksi at the time his citizenship application was being processed, this information would have already been made available to Interpol, a notification of which would have been readily accessible to CIU and its due diligence partners. Further, the warrant should have formed a part of the criminal records database in India and therefore declared in the police clearance certificate issued by the MEA,” it said.

CBI sources made light of the disclaimer and said it was stating the obvious. “Since there was no criminal case registered with the police or CBI against Choksi last year, none could have reflected in the Interpol database,” an officer said.

The CBI sent its extradition request for Choksi on Monday in which, in the absence of an extradition treaty between the two countries, it asked Antigua to honour the UN Convention Against Corruption 2003, and consider principles of “reciprocity” and “dual criminality”.

Under the principle of reciprocity, if Antigua sends Choksi to India, it will get similar assistance from India in any such case, while dual criminality calls for action against an offender who has committed a crime from both sides. Sources said Choksi was using laundered money in Antigua, which made it a crime there.



In Video: Indian govt had given clean chit to Mehul Choksi, claims Antigua