The case involving Indian fugitive Mehul Choksi has taken yet another twist in the Magistrate’s Court in Roseau before Chief Magistrate Candia Carette-George.
Choksi was due to appear in court on June 14, 2021, where his trial for alleged “illegal entry into Dominica on May 23, 2021” was to have commenced.
However, he was “a no show” and instead his lawyers presented a medical certificate from his medical doctor at the Dominica China Friendship Hospital where he has been a patient for the past two weeks claiming that he was suffering from “mental stress” and his blood pressure was elevated and hence unable to attend court.
Experienced criminal lawyer Zena Moore Dyer and her daughter Gina Dyer Munro from the law firm of Dyer & Dyer have now been added to his team of lawyers in Dominica.
The prosecution headed by acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Sherma Dalrymple told the court that “we are ready to proceed to trial.”
She also took the opportunity to introduce and add to the State’s prosecuting team Indian lawyer Harpreet Giana who will be assisting in the case.
Chief Magistrate Carette-George then adjourned the matter to June 25, 2021, at 9 am Caribbean time and Choksi will remain under police guard as a patient at the hospital. She also ordered that he be brought to court on Thursday, June 17, 2021, to be further remanded.
The Indian Government alleges that Choksi who holds an Antiguan passport since 2017 via the Citizen by Investment Programme (CBI) cheated the Punjab National Bank (PNB) of more than two billion US dollars and then left for Antigua where he has been residing since 2018 and wants him extradited.
He is now involved in a legal battle in the Antigua and Dominica courts.
