India’s fugitive billionaires: How Mehul Choksi, Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi escaped justice

INDIAN BILLIONAIRES ON THE RUN: Fugitive Indian Jewellery magnate Mehul Choksi’s arrest in the Caribbean Islands has once again put the spotlight on the struggles Indian authorities sometimes face trying to extradite crime suspects from abroad. For India, a lack of extradition treaties with other countries means that New Delhi could bring back just two economic offenders over the past half-decade despite having 313 active Interpol ‘red notices’.

Who is Mehul Choksi? Why is he wanted? Choksi, the founder of the formerly Gitanjali Group in India, has been on the run for more than three years. The 62-year-old, along with his nephew and business associate Nirav Modi, is being investigated by India's CBI for allegedly embezzling funds from the state-owned Punjab National Bank in a $2 billion (Dh7.36 billion) fraud.

WHAT WAS THE SCAM? Choksi and others allegedly colluded with bank employees to attain fake letters of undertaking (LOUs) from PNB. The LOUs were provided to Modi’s and Choksi's companies without any cash margins or security, causing the PSU bank to lose a lot of money when the suspects disappeared.

NIRAV MODI: The diamond merchant, wanted in India on charges of fraud and money laundering in the estimated $2-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case, lost his legal battle against extradition as a UK judge ruled that he does have a case to answer before the Indian courts.

WHERE IS HE NOW? He has been lodged at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest on an extradition warrant in March 2019 at a central London bank branch, where he was trying to set up a new account.

VIJAY MALLYA : Another noted Indian fleeing from justice is Vijay Mallya, who is wanted in India on fraud allegations related to the collapse of his airline Kingfisher. He escaped to the United Kingdom in 2016. Mallya remains in Britain despite losing what was characterised at the time in media reports as his final appeal against a 2018 order to extradite him to India.

‘KING OF GOOD TIMES’ : Before his fall from grace, the 65-year-old self-proclaimed ‘King of Good Times’ used to regularly mingle with India's rich and famous, having purchased Formula One, cricket and football clubs, a fleet of private aircraft, and more than 150 luxury cars.

WHAT IS HE ACCUSED OF? He is accused of failing to pay more than $1.3 billion, including millions of dollars in unpaid wages, resulting in obligations relating to his now defunct airline.

Unlike Nirav Modi, who is imprisoned in London's Wandsworth Prison, Mallya is out on bail and rumored to have asked for political asylum.