Fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi, who was considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi was given Antigua citizenship last November after a police clearance certificate from the Indian government last year mentioned that there was “no adverse information” against him, Antigua has said in a statement.
According to NDTV, the statement issued by Antigua’s Citizenship By Investment Unit (CIU) said, “The police clearance certificate from the Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs Regional Passport Office, Mumbai, certified that there was no adverse information against Mr. Mehul Chinubbhai Choksi which would render him ineligible for grant of travel facilities including visa for Antigua and Barbuda.”
Choksi left India in the first week of January and took an oath of allegiance as a citizen of Antigua on January 15. The CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) filed a case and started investigating Choksi and Nirav Modi in the Rs 13,500-crore PNB scam on January 29.
It is shocking that the authorities gave a clearance certificate to Choksi as the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) was flagged by whistle-blower Hari Prasad earlier. Prasad told The Hindu that he had entered into a franchise business agreement with Choksi in 2012. “I have no business dealings with Nirav Modi and his company. In my franchise business, they promised so many things and ultimately after taking the investment from me, they did not fulfil any of the agreement terms and they cheated us,” he said.
After releasing that Choksi and Modi were frauds, Prasad reported the matter to PMO. Acknowledging Prasad’s letter, PMO asked Registrar of Companies (RoC) to look into the irregularities in the balance sheet as alleged by him. As the RoC did not take any action, Prasad wrote to them in July 2016. But, they didn’t reply.
Now, the question that arises is even after being alerted about Choksi’s wrongdoings, how could he obtain a clearance certificate from the authorities. Did his connection with the top-most people in the current government help him escape easily?