PNB Scam: Fugitive Mehul Choksi likely to return to India in 3 months if...!

Fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi, one of the main accused in multi-crore bank fraud, may return to India in Three months, says his lawyer. But he will return to India only "if his condition gets better", his lawyer said.

The lawyer told a Mumbai court on Saturday that Mehul Choksi is not in a position to record his statement, news agency ANI reported. The 59-year-old Choksi had claimed he left India in January for medical treatment in the US.

Sanjay Abbot, Choksi's counsel, told the court, "Presently he is not medically fit to travel. So his statement can either be recorded through video conferencing or ED officers can go to Antigua and record his statement or wait for three months if his conditions improve, he will come back to record his statement."

"There is one option and according to that, the investigation can be done through video conferencing. An officer from India can go to Antigua in order to investigate him. The third option is that if his condition gets better in three months and if his doctors allow him to, then he will come back to India to join the investigation," lawyer Sanjay Abbot said.

The court was hearing the Enforcement Directorate's application to declare Choksi as a 'fugitive economic offender", reported news agency ANI.

Mehul Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are being probed by the ED and CBI for alleged fraudulent transactions worth over Rs 13,500 crore at state-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB). According to NDTV, the Enforcement Directorate had sought to declare Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi "fugitive economic offenders" and clearance to confiscate their assets worth Rs. 3,500 crore.

The businessman was granted citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda last year and he took the oath of allegiance to that country on January 15.

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