Mehul Choksi being taken to court in Dominica
Dominica has no business with Mehul Choksi says Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, who also said the issue of the diamond dealer is only a minor matter
Skerrit was asked questions by reporters on the matter at a press conference in Roseau recently
“The issue of Mr. Choski…the charges of illegal entry into Dominica were dropped and Mr Choski was allowed to leave Dominica. So as far as Dominica is concerned, we have no more business with Mr. Choski,” Skerrit said
“And the Choksi matter is a minor thing. We have investigations all the time, who coming in illegally and others. So, that’s a minor thing as far as we are concerned,” he said
But while the matter may not be of much concern to Skerrit, the Opposition United Workers Party wants answers.
President of the UWP Lennox Linton said the decision to drop the illegal entry charge against Choksi was “nothing but a Skerrit-regime move to extricate itself from the scandal.”
He said the issue according to Skerrit is a minor issue but to Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda, it is a “big thing.”
“While Mr Skerrit is claiming that they have no further business with Mehul Choski, Mehul Choski has further business with the government of Dominica because of a claim that has been filed in the High Court of Dominica on the seventh of March, 2023,” Lennox added.
Linton said the Prime Minister appeared to be oblivious about even the filing of the case.
“Mehul Choski, in that court filing, was asking the court to rule that he was unlawfully detained, he was wrongfully arrested, falsely imprisoned, assaulted and battered by law enforcement officers in Dominica after he was kidnapped, tortured, ill-treated, forcibly removed from Antigua and Barbuda against his will and ferried to Dominica…” according to Linton, who pointed out that several Dominican public officers were named as defendants in the filing of the case
“The second defendant is the Chief of Police who is responsible for the acts and omission of the officers of the police force,” he stated. “You will recall Lincoln Corbett, the then Chief of Police, met with Mehul Choski at the Cabrits’ Ferry Terminal on the 24th of May, 2021, and authorized the arrest of Mehul Choksi when he knew, or ought to have known, according to the filings in the court, that the arrest was not justified, the arrest was not lawful,” according to Linton.
Adding, “the DPP, Sherma Dalrymple, swore to an affidavit that Mr. Choksi entered Dominica illegally when she knew, or ought to have known, that this was not true and the arrest and charge of Mr. Choksi was neither justifiable nor were they lawful,”.
In the case filed by Choksi, he claimed malicious prosecution, unlawful arrest, false imprisonment, breach of constitutional rights, assault and battery, and injury.
“He is asking the court to award special damages in the amount of $4,260,332 .64…In addition to those special damages, he is asking for the court’s discretion in the awards of damages for malicious prosecution, damages including aggravated and exemplary damages, and damages for the breach of his constitutional rights,” Linton explained
Linton said Skerrit continues to give the impression that the matter is a done deal when in fact it isn’t
“You get the impression that listening to this, that Mr Skerrit didn’t know anything about this? Does it mean that the main defendant in the suit by Mr Choksi did not bother to tell the Prime Minister that a matter against the state was filed on the 7th of March, 2023?… He has a major legal matter dealing with in Dominica which Mr Skerrit conveniently seems not to know anything about,” Linton added.
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