Mehul Chinubhai Choksi, the fugitive Indian businessman, residing in Antigua and Barbuda, on whom an extradition request by India hangs for criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, fraud and dishonesty, bribery and money laundering, has been missing since last Sunday. The police issued the following news release:
Missing Jolly Harbour Man
The Police are investigating a Missing Person Report made of 62-year-old Mehul Choksi of Jolly Harbour. Mehul was reported missing on Sunday 23rd May 2021 at the Johnso
n Point Police Station.
He was last seen at about 5:15 P.M on the above-mentioned date before leaving home in a motorcar which has since been recovered. Based on additional information received the Police have conducted numerous searches but to no avail.
Mehul is described as being of Indian descent, brown in complexion, five feet six inches (5’ 6”) in height, heavily built with a balding hairline.
The Police are seeking the assistance of the public in knowing the whereabouts of Mr. Choksi. Anyone with information is asked to call the Johnson Point Police Station at 562-8942/43 or the Criminal Inv
estigations Department (CID) at 462-3913/14.
What to think? Has he been kidnapped or, worse, killed? Has he escaped? Or is it all a mise-en-scène? And who reported his disappearance? And most importantly, why? In Antigua there are those who are ready to swear that they had seen him just a few moments before in Jolly Harbour…. Some rumors say that he would have left Antigua by sea paying an exorbitant amount of money to reach a Spanish-speaking Caribbean state, but it would not be Cuba as claimed by some media…
On the other hand, with an Interpol red flag it is quite difficult to escape and even more difficult to find a complaisant state that can refuse extradition to India. He would have had to leave the island with a lot of cash on him and even this possibility, these days, seems rather unlikely.
Affaire à suivre…