According to a statement from the CBI, the agency has asked that the Red Notice against fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, who is wanted in connection with a bank fraud of Rs 13,000 crore at the Punjab National Bank, be revived by the Commission for Control of Interpol’s Files (CCF).
The Red Notice is the strongest form of notice that Interpol, a global organisation with 195 members, can send to law enforcement agencies around the world to help them find and temporarily arrest a suspect pending extradition, surrender, or other legal action.
In 2018, the CBI and Enforcement Directorate asked Interpol to open a Red Notice against Choksi.
In 2020, his attempts to appeal the decision were failed.
CCF, a separate Interpol body
Nearly a year after his alleged abduction attempt, in 2022, he requested that the CCF “revise its earlier decision of 2020,” according to the agency. The CCF is a separate Interpol body that is not under the control of the INTERPOL Secretariat and is mainly staffed by elected lawyers from different countries.
“…based on mere imaginary conjunctures and unproven surmises, a five member CCF chamber, has taken a decision on deletion of Red Notice, communicated in November, 2022,” the agency said.
It claimed that CCF then told CBI that its ruling did not determine Mehul Chinubhai Choksi’s guilt or innocence for the offences with which he is still prosecuted in India.
CBI is taking steps for decision of CCF to be revised
“CCF has reiterated that it has not established factual certainties and there is no factual finding in their decision that Mehul Chinubhai Choksi will not have fair trial. Based on new information and serious errors in the decision, CBI is taking steps for the decision of CCF to be revised,” it said.
“CBI continues to exercise available remedial and appellate options within Interpol for rectification of this faulty decision and for restoration of Red Notice,” it said.
According to the agency, CBI has addressed with CCF the “serious shortcomings, procedural violations, overreach of mandate, and mistakes committed by CCF” in the process of arriving at this hasty and arbitrary decision.
Also Read: OnePlus 11: Top variant with innovative features to launch in India, specs and all other details here
Keep watching our YouTube Channel ‘DNP INDIA’. Also, please subscribe and follow us on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, and TWITTER
