NEW DELHI: Seven months after diamantaire Mehul Choksi ran away from the country after cheating public sector banks of several thousand crore rupees, the fugitive has reportedly fled from the United States to the island nation of Antigua and Barbuda to save himself from the extradition.

The fugitive businessman is also learned to have acquired the passport of Antigua and Barbuda, a Commonwealth nation having strict banking secrecy laws and difficult conditions for the extradition of an offender. India doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Antigua and Barbuda.

With investigating agencies mounting pressure on Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi , who together defrauded Punjab National Bank (PNB) of over Rs 13,578 crore, Choksi feared that if he is traced and arrested by the authorities in the United States, he could be extradited to India, said sources.

According to the sources, replying to India’s request to trace him, the intelligence agencies have informed the investigating agencies – ED and CBI - that Choksi left for Antigua island’s V C Bird International Airport from New York’s John F Kennedy airport on July 8.

The sources added that Choksi took the flight as ED and CBI have accelerated their efforts to extradite him back to India.

While on the request of CBI, Interpol has already issued a red corner notice against Nirav Modi, the international agency is yet to issue the global arrest warrant against Choksi.

Experts in the know-how of extradition proceedings and transfer laws for a fugitive in Antigua and Barbuda said that the Caribbean nation “does not extradite an individual whenever it is believed that the request has been made for prosecuting, being prejudiced at trial, punishing, or restricted in his personal freedom on the account of his race, religion, nationality, or political opinions.”

Antigua and Barbuda can also deny extradition in case the wanted person has been sentenced by the court of requesting country, said an official.

CBI and ED both have filed chargesheets against Choksi and his companies – including Gitanjali Group .

The central anti-corruption agency has alleged that while Nirav Modi, through his companies, siphoned off funds to the tune of Rs 6,498.20 crore using fraudulent LoUs issued from PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai, Choksi swindled Rs 7080.86 crore, making it possibly the biggest banking scam in the country.

Choksi is under investigation in an additional loan default of over Rs 5,000 crore to his companies.

They availed credit from overseas branches of Indian banks using the fraudulent guarantees of the PNB given through LoUs (Letters of Undertaking) and letters of credit which were not repaid bringing the liability on the state-run bank.

An LoU is a guarantee given by an issuing bank to Indian banks having branches abroad to grant short-term credit to the applicant.

The instructions for transferring the funds were allegedly issued by a bank employee, Gokulnath Shetty, using an international messaging system for banking called SWIFT platform and without making their subsequent entries in the PNB's internal banking software, thus bypassing scrutiny in the bank.

