Mumbai, June 17: Fugitive diamond merchant Mehul Choksi on Monday submitted an affidavit in the Bombay High Court in which he gave the details of his disease and said that he has left the country for medical treatment.
'I am currently residing in Antigua and willing to co-operate in the investigation. If court may deem it fit, it may direct the investigating officer to travel to Antigua,' he stated in the affidavit. "I am willing to join the investigation but due to my medical issue, I am unable to travel. I undertake to travel to India as soon as I am medically fit to travel," he said. In his affidavit, Choksi has said that claims of Enforcement Directorate and CBI, that he is not joining the probe are wrong. Citing his medical history, Choksi claims he cannot travel outside Antigua. However, he said ED and CBI can question him in Antigua. Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted by the ED and the CBI for allegedly defrauding the PNB to the tune of Rs 13,400 crore, in collusion with a few of its employees. The ED had filed an application before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court, seeking for Choksi to be declared a "fugitive economic offender" for evading summons to appear before the agency and for his properties be confiscated under the provisions of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018. Choksi, who currently lives in the Carribean Islands and is evading Indian investigators, had declared bankruptcy in August, last year. There is an Interpol Red Corner Notice against Choksi since December, last year.