How India can get Mehul Choksi's Antiguan citizenship cancelled

Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi who is absconding from the country to duck officials investigating the Rs 13,400 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam has found shelter in the Caribbean nation of Antigua. In fact, Choksi has said that his desire to expand his business and roam freely around the globe motivated him to apply for the citizenship of Antigua & Barbuda. Choksi got the citizenship in November 2017, even before the PNB scam was unearthed.

The Antiguan citizenship allows its citizens visa-free access to 132 nations. However, Mehul Choksi should not be overconfident about his Antiguan citizenship. There are many clauses in the Antiguan citizenship application that India can use to get Choksi's citizenship cancelled.

Choksi had applied for the passport under the Citizenship-by-Investment Program. The program was launched in 2013 and offers three types of investment as part of "significant economic contribution to the country". The first is to make a contribution to the National Development Fund, the second is investment in previously approved real estate projects, and the third is to invest in a business approved by the government.

But, there are also situations in which the applicants are ineligible, and it should worry Choksi. The guidelines for the program clearly specify that the subject of a criminal investigation will be ineligible, among other points. Not only is Mehul Choksi the subject of a criminal investigation, he is one of the subjects of the biggest banking scam in India.The Enforcement Directorate (ED) that filed the chargesheet in the PNB scam stated that Mehul Choksi was the mastermind of the scam. "He designed the entire scheme of fraud and the movement of the money under the garb of import and export," they stated. Additionally, the CBI, too, has filed a chargesheet against the diamantaire. The Directorate has also invoked the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance against Choksi and nephew Nirav Modi.

The guidelines furthermore mention that any applicant providing false information on his or her application will be ineligible. It is also mentioned that deprivation of citizenship will occur where "registration as a citizen was obtained by false representation or fraud or wilful concealment of material facts".

In a letter through his attorney, Choksi said, "During the course of my application I did all that was lawfully required of me to do. My application for citizenship was in due course approved."

Meanwhile, in Antigua, politicians are not buying it. His citizenship has created quite a furore in the Caribbean country. The Antiguan Prime Minister Gaston Browne told a local newspaper in 2017 that there was no negative information on Choksi. But now, opposition parties are demanding answers from PM Browne, with some even saying that the Caribbean country has become "a haven for fraudsters, money launderers and the like."

Additionally, 28 Indians have applied for citizenship in Antigua since 2014. Seven requests for citizenship were received in the period between January 1 and June 30, 2017. The Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP) 6-monthly report of CIU reveals that India constitutes 2.50% of the 1,121 foreign nationals' applications for citizenship since the inception of the program. The report also reveals that, out of the seven applications, three Indian applications were processed simultaneously on June 21, 2017, with investments of $2,00,000 each. Whether these applications belong to the Choksi family remains unclear. 

There are also 42 Bangladeshi nationals, along with 28 Pakistani and 478 Chinese nationals who sought citizenship in the country.

(Edited by Anwesha Madhukalya)