New Delhi: The case of fugitive diamond trader Mehul Choksi challenging his extradition will show up for hearing before Belgium’s supreme court the Court of Cassation on December 9, authorities stated on Thursday.
< source media ="(max-width:767px)" alt ="Mehul Choksi's lawyer also refuted reports that he has fled for Cuba. Gaston Browne, the Antiguan PM, also said that it is highly unlikely that Choksi has fled the country. ( Priyanka Parashar/Mint)" title ="Mehul Choksi's lawyer also refuted reports that he has fled for Cuba. Gaston Browne, the Antiguan PM, also said that it is highly unlikely that Choksi has fled the country. ( Priyanka Parashar/Mint)"> < img src ="https://www.hindustantimes.com/ht-img/img/2025/11/20/550x309/Mehul_Choksi_1763638808285_1763638808590.jpg"alt ="Mehul Choksi's lawyer also refuted reports that he has fled for Cuba. Gaston Browne, the Antiguan PM, also said that it is highly unlikely that Choksi has fled the country. ( Priyanka Parashar/Mint)"title ="Mehul Choksi's lawyer also refuted reports that he has fled for Cuba. Gaston Browne, the Antiguan PM, also said that it is highly unlikely that Choksi has fled the country. ( Priyanka Parashar/Mint)"> Choksi has actually challenged before Belgium’s leading court an October 17 judgment of the Antwerp Court of Appeal that maintained India’s ask for his extradition while describing it “enforceable”
In action to questions by the PTI, Advocaat-generaal Henri Vanderlinden stated the Court of Cassation will hear the case on December 9.
The Court of Cassation just inspects the choice of the court of appeal “on legal aspects” such as whether the court of appeal properly used the legal personalities, and whether they follow the ideal treatment, he informed PTI.
“So, new facts or evidence cannot be placed,” he stated.
“The proceedings are, in essence, a written one. As a rule, all cases are heard. If the court refuses to admit the appeal, it will be on legal grounds, for example, the person who filed the complaint did not have the legal competence to do so,” Vanderlinden discussed.
He stated the celebrations need to communicate their grievances in composing “on the moment” they interest the court.
“They cannot add any other complaints after that moment. During the hearing, they can develop those complaints, but nothing else,” he stated, providing information about the treatment in the Court of Cassation.
On October 17, a four-member indictment chamber at the Court of Appeals in Antwerp did not discover any imperfection in the orders provided by the pre-trial chamber of the district court on November 29, 2024, describing the arrest warrants released by a Mumbai unique court in May 2018 and June 2021 as “enforceable”enabling Choksi’s extradition.
The Court of Appeals had actually ruled that Choksi, the primary implicated in a Rs-13,000 crore PNB rip-off, deals with “no risk” of being rejected a reasonable trial or subjected to ill-treatment if he is extradited to India.
Of the overall rip-off quantity, Choksi alone has actually siphoned off 6,400 crore, the Central Bureau of Investigation has actually declared in its chargesheet.
Choksi, who got away to Antigua and Barbuda in January 2018, days before the rip-off was identified, was found in Belgium, where he had actually supposedly looked for treatment.
India sent out an extradition demand to Belgium on August 27, 2024, based upon arrest warrants released by the unique court in Mumbai.
The general public district attorney at the Court of First Instance in Antwerp, Division Turnhout, started an action on November 25, 2024, looking for the enforcement of arrest warrants released by the Mumbai court.
The pre-trial chamber of the Antwerp District Court, Turnhout Division, in its order dated November 29, 2024, held that the arrest warrants versus Choksi provided by the Mumbai court were enforceable, other than for the order associated to “causing the disappearance of evidence of the crime”
When Choksi appealed versus this decision in the Antwerp Court of Appeals, it declined his claims that he personally deals with a genuine, present and severe threat of going through ostentatious rejection of justice, abuse or inhuman and degrading treatment in India.
India has actually provided a variety of guarantees to Belgium about Choksi’s security, the charges that he would deal with throughout trial in India, jail plans, human rights and medical requirements.
The Court of Appeals had actually ruled that 66-year-old Choksi deals with “no risk” of being rejected a reasonable trial or subjected to ill-treatment if he is extradited to India.
Dismissing the appeal submitted by Choksi versus the district court, the Court of Appeals held that the entrepreneur stopped working to offer “concretely plausible” proof of a “genuine risk” of abuse or rejection of justice.
The order was a strong recognition of India’s case seeking his extradition, with Choksi having the choice of appealing versus the choice in Belgium’s Supreme Court, the authorities stated.
The Court of Appeals has actually held that the files Choksi sent do not validate his claims that he is the topic of a political trial.