Choksi’s team expresses concern over his deteriorating health

0
50
Mehul Choksi arriving at the Magistrate’s Court in Roseau, Dominica earlier this month. (Photo courtesy Dominica News Online)
- Advertisement -

By Orville Williams

[email protected]

The family and attorneys representing the embattled Mehul Choksi are fearful that his health will continue to deteriorate before he can be afforded sufficient medical care. 

According to reports out of Dominica, Choksi’s health is slowly deteriorating, with sources close to the Indian-born native noting that he suffers from heart disease and other chronic ailments, including diabetes and hypertension.

Choksi is currently under police guard as a patient at the Dominica-China Friendship Hospital in the ‘Nature Isle’, where he has been receiving treatment for the past few weeks. 

He has been charged for entering the country without legal authorisation on May 25.

Choksi was scheduled to appear in the Magistrate’s Court in Roseau on Monday for the start of that trial, but he was unable to do so on account of ill health. 

Reports are that his legal team presented a medical certificate from a doctor at the hospital where he is a patient, saying the accused is suffering from a number of ailments, to include high blood pressure. 

Following his non-appearance, Chief Magistrate Candia Carette-George adjourned the matter and it has been rescheduled to June 25. The magistrate has also ordered that Choksi must appear before the court on June 17 to be further remanded. 

The man is expected to remain at the hospital until the next trial date, but his family and attorneys are worried that his health could worsen if he is not allowed to return to Antigua in order to receive better medical treatment. 

Reports say that Choksi himself has admitted that he is suffering from even more health issues and fears for his life if he is kept in his current situation.

A controversial citizen of Antigua and Barbuda – via the Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP) – Choksi is maintaining that he did not travel to Dominica on his own accord, but was kidnapped and brought to the country against his will, as part of a nefarious plot between the three countries involved.

Observer has reached out to Choksi’s family for further comment on his health condition, but were unable to get any further updates before going to press. 

- Advertisement -