The Bombay High Court Thursday rejected pleas by Mehul Choksi, an accused in the PNB scam case, challenging pending applications of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) before the Special Court to declare him as a Fugitive Economic Offender (FEO). The multi-crore fraud was allegedly perpetrated by billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, the promoter of Gitanjali Gems. Choksi and Modi have been accused of getting letters of undertaking (LoU) and foreign letters of credit (FLC) of Rs 12,636 crore issued in favour of foreign branches of Indian banks based on fraudulent claims. Nirav Modi was declared FEO by a special court in December 2019 and the extradition process against him is underway. A single-judge bench of Justice Sarang V Kotwal had on September 11 concluded a hearing in Choksi's pleas and reserved its order. The HC was hearing four pleas filed by Choksi claiming alleged procedural lapses in the proceedings before the special court designated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The HC had first granted interim relief to Choksi in January 2020 by restraining the special court from pronouncing its final order in the ED’s application seeking to declare Choksi as an FEO and the same was continued from time to time till Thursday, which the bench vacated through its verdict. In 2019, the ED had moved an application before the PMLA Court to declare Choksi an FEO under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018, and also to confiscate his properties. As per the 2018 law, a person can be declared FEO if a warrant has been issued against him for an offence involving an amount of Rs 100 crore or more and if the person has left the country and refuses to return. Choksi had then moved the HC to challenge the ED's application, filing two pleas including one seeking dismissal of the central agency’s application and the other seeking permission to cross-examine the investigating officers and persons on whose statements the probing agency relied to declare Choksi an FEO. Choksi’s lawyer had approached the High Court alleging procedural flaws in the ED affidavit filed before the special court. Last month, the agency had also approached the High Court seeking to review the HC's stay on the proceedings to declare Choksi as FEO. The central agency claimed that Choksi is an accused under the PMLA Act and prosecution against him is pending due to the stay granted by the HC. It had argued that after three years, the matter ought to be heard afresh. However, the special judge was not doing so due to interim relief granted by the HC, therefore it urged Justice Kotwal to finally decide the pleas at the earliest. Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, appearing for Choksi, had raised an objection to the ED's stand that the interim order of the High Court was granted "without any reason" and it had "indirectly stayed the extradition proceedings against the said accused." After Justice Kotwal expressed displeasure over the ED's "casual" comment, the agency withdrew the same.
