New Delhi: Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua on Friday clarified that the Indian government has not taken any step till now to approach them in the case on fugitive diamond jeweler Mehul Choksi who has taken citizenship of the Caribbean country. But the Prime Minister has promised all cooperation over the issue.
Mr. Browne was speaking to television channel CNN News18 during an interview and added that Choksi who had received the citizenship when there was no case against him, will have to lose the citizenship if he gave any type of false information during the time of application.
Most recently, Choksi was in news for taking Antiguan citizenship last year. He fled India to escape Rs. 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank fraud case along with his nephew Nirav Modi.
“At the time when he applied about August last year, there was no derogatory information on him. In fact, up to this point, I do not believe that your law enforcement agencies in India would have posted anything on Interpol … So in essence, my country did nothing wrong,” Mr. Browne said.
According to the statement given by Mr. Browne, Choksi at the time of application for the citizenship had claimed that he left India to escape from political persecution and an investigation needs to be done to confirm its correctness.
“The gentleman (Choksi) has claimed that he actually left the country … ”I am literally trying to flee political persecution”. We don’t know what the facts are,” said the PM.
But Mr. Browne said that the Indian authorities need to follow the process and Antigua can conduct an investigation into that after India sends a request and there will be a decision on revocation of his citizenship.
According to the Prime Minister, there are certain clauses in the application of citizenship and if Choksi is found to have furnished false information at the time of application of citizenship or did any fraud or lied at the time of the oath of allegiance, his citizenship can be nullified.
“My government will cooperate fully with the Indian government,” he added.
Both the Uncle and Nephew were found to be involved in multi crore scam by defrauding India’s Punjab National Bank. After the scam was found, both the persons had already flown away from India and were said be living somewhere in the USA and now the report is that Choksi is living in Antigua.
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