According to a report in Dominica News Online, Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit dismissed fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi’s claims that he was brought to the island as part of a plot involving Dominica, India, and Antigua and Barbuda, calling such claims “total nonsense.”
Skerrit is responding for the first time to allegations made by Mehul Choksi and his family that the three governments conspired to send the businessman to India to face trial in a $13,500 crore bank fraud case.
Choksi’s legal team claims that on May 23, he was kidnapped by police officers from Antigua and India and transported to Dominica on a boat the next day, where he was met by senior Dominica police officers. The plan, according to reports, was to deport him quietly to India.
It was absurd, according to Skerrit.
“To say that the government of Dominica and the government of Antigua along with India colluded in any way, give me a break, that’s total nonsense. We don’t get involved ourselves in those kinds of activities, those practices, not at all. I mean that is absurd and we reject it and it is unfortunate that anybody would want to propagate this unsubstantiated claim by a gentleman who is before the courts,” Skerrit said in course of weekly interaction with a journalists.
Skerrit also warned Dominica’s opposition parties against making “irresponsible statements” about the situation. Last month, Dominica’s opposition leader, Lennox Linton, claimed the government was involved in Choksi’s kidnapping.
The prime minister stated that his government will apply the law equally regardless of who is accused of breaking it.
Dominica will respect Choksi’s rights and obligations, Skerrit said, adding that his government will allow the court to carry out its process.
He also expressed his support for Antigua’s decision to revoke Choksi’s citizenship. Choksi, who became an Antiguan citizen through the country’s Citizenship by Investment Scheme in November 2017, is currently fighting the Antiguan government’s attempt to revoke his citizenship, as well as a second case involving his extradition to India.
Choksi is an illegal resident of Dominica, and the Indian government has requested his deportation on the grounds that he must face Indian courts and that he remains an Indian citizen.
Skerrit referred to Choksi as a “Indian citizen” in an early June statement, reflecting New Delhi’s stance on the businessman. Choksi’s request to revoke his Indian citizenship was denied, according to India, and the decision was communicated to him when he filed the application.
Choksi’s lawyers, on the other hand, argue that Choksi lost his Indian citizenship when he became an Antiguan citizen in November 2017.
The 62-year-old businessman is currently in judicial custody in Dominica after being charged with “illegal entry” by police there. He is accused of fraud along with his nephew Nirav Modi.
He has applied for bail in Dominica and has requested that he be returned to Antigua, where he is a citizen.
