Economic offenders Bill a face-saving exercise: Congress

Mehul Choksi

A day after fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi was reportely located in the small Carribean island-nation Antigua, the Congress on Wednesday targeted the government saying the government was "hurriedly" bringing the Ecomonic Offender Fugitive Bill in Parliament as a "face saving exercise."

"Three months after PM Modi meets Antigua's Prime Minister Gaston Browne, Mehul Choksi gets Antigua's passport," said Congress leader Rajeev Gowda at a press conference.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met Browne in London in April this year on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

"Nirav Modi (another fugitive jeweller in the PNB fraud) i.e. Chhota Modi is globetrotting and Prime Minister Modi's 'our Mehul Bhai' i.e Choksi gets an Antigua passport after Nirav visited China, Belgium, UK, US, UAE and Hong Kong," the Rajya Sabha MP said.

"Investigation agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate (ED) have failed to get a 'red corner notice (RCN)' issued against him (Choksi) till today," Gowda alleged.

The RCN is a request made to Interpol to locate and provisionally arrest a suspect and is usually issued by CBI to the Interpol. "That notice is pending against Choksi," said the Congress leader.

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