New Evidence in Mehul Choksi Kidnapping: A Grave Test for Caribbean Justice
JUSTICE ABROAD
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Press Statement
Justice Abroad’s Director and London-based international barrister Michael Polak is acting for Mr Mehul Choksi as part of his legal team.
This case, where Mr Choksi has been lured to a Villa in Antigua, then attacked, bound and gagged, tied to a wheelchair, then transported out to sea and onwards to Dominica is a clear breach of the rule of law and a big test for the legal systems of the Caribbean.
Two new pieces of evidence have recently been revealed.
This evidence shows that Ms Barbara Jarabik had asked an Air B n B agent whether the property she was inquiring about, Jolly Harbour North Villa F, had the capacity for a small boat to dock. She also inquired as to whether Villa E was also available to book and then that villa was booked by a United Kingdom travel agency with offices in London and Birmingham (see below)
Further, video evidence has emerged which shows the arrival and departure in Jolly Harbour of the boat upon which the bound and gagged Mr Choksi was taken out to sea to be transferred to the larger ship for the unlawful journey to Dominica (see below)
What took place
April Reconnaissance Trip
This terrible ordeal for Mr Choksi, and this attack on the rule of law, took place on 23 May 2021. However, the planning for what was to happen to Mr Choksi occurred much earlier. In April 2021 what may have been a reconnaissance trip or failed kidnap attempt took place. Four individuals travelled to the Caribbean from London in April and one of these was Barbara Jarabik, the person who Mr Choksi says lured him to the spot where he was attacked and kidnapped in May.
In April, she flew with one of the men, from London to Antigua then on to Dominica. During this period, and coinciding with the exact point when Ms Jarabik and the man she travelled with were in Dominica, two men attempted to enter Dominica by boat but were barred as being suspected of people trafficking. These men were the same men who in the May 2021 kidnapping entered Dominica on the boat Mr Choksi says kidnapped him on the day after he had been offloaded to the Dominican Police. The April trip may have been a dress rehearsal for the May kidnapping because exactly what happened on that occasion, including Barbara Jarabik and her handler leaving Dominica by private jet, took place on 23 May 2021 when Mr Choksi was kidnapped.
On 8 May 2021, and what seems to have been in preparation for the kidnapping, Mr Choksi says that an Air B n B villa was rented by Barbara and that this was the place to which he was lured and kidnapped from. In her Air B n B messages in regard to renting Jolly Harbour North Villa F on 8 May 2021 Barbara asked about being able to dock a small boat at this property (see below)
It should be noted that she told the host they might take both Villas F and the apartment next door, and then subsequently Villa E was booked by Skylord Travel Ltd, a UK based travel agency with offices in London and Birmingham. It is not suggested that this company was involved in the kidnapping. Subsequently, this is confirmed by Barbara Jarabik when she states in a message that ‘the agent from London booked Villa E’. It is likely that the men who booked Villa E through the travel agent, were part of the group who attacked and kidnapped Mr Choksi.
Mr Choksi has stated that on 23 May 2021, Barbara messaged him to come and pick her up at around 5pm. It has been reported that she was the last person that Mr. Choksi was seen with in Antigua. When Mr Choksi entered the property a large group of men rushed out and beat him, they put a bag on his head, transported him by small boat out to a larger boat which headed towards Dominica to take Mr Choksi away from the place where he was a citizen and where any attempt to deprive him of that citizenship could be taken to the Privy Council in London. Mr Choksi was assaulted on the journey, threatened with a knife, and told that he must say that he had come voluntarily and that he must not mention Barbara. He was taken to Dominica and handed over to the Coastguard who picked him up late on 24 May 2021 then passed him on to the Police where he was kept without lawyers for days, until his resourceful Dominican lawyer managed to get in to see him and get his account.
Videos have now been discovered which we believe shows the small boat travelling towards Jolly Harbour then travelling away from Jolly Harbour 26 minutes later. This is believed to have carried Mr Choksi out of Jolly Harbour North Finger, after which he was transferred to the Calliope of Arne. As can be seen, this boat was unmarked, carried no flag or name, and was moving much faster than the speed limit in the area of 5mph (Please see the accompanying videos). Sources state that the Calliope of Arne was spotted in Jolly Harbour on the afternoon of 23 May 2021 having cleared customs to leave Antigua in English Harbour just after 10am that morning and therefore should have left Antiguan waters at that time but was seen going back and forth just outside Jolly Harbour.
At 7.26pm just after the time when the kidnapping took place, Barbara Jarabik, the person who Mr Choksi said lured him into being kidnapped, travelled from Antigua to Dominica by private jet with the same man with whom she had made the practice trip in April. Two men entered Antigua on the boat the Calliope of Arne on 25 May 2021, after Mr Choksi had been renditioned to the Dominican authorities from this boat. These men were the same two who had undertaken the same boat trip during the practice run in April.
In Dominica, Mr Choksi was kept without lawyers for days, until his resourceful lawyer managed to get in to see him and get his account. During that period where Mr Choksi was denied his right to legal representation, it is believed that a form was put before Mr Choksi which purported to be an agreement to be sent back to Antigua however he did not see the words Antigua on this form and suspected, as we do, that this form was going to be used to say he agreed to be transported back to India. He refused to sign this form. An Indian private jet was at on the ground in Dominica with agents ready to whisk Choksi away, without any legal authority in Antigua or Dominica to do so.
Mr Choksi’s case is before the Honourable Madam Justice M E Birnie Stephenson in the High Court of the Commonwealth of Dominica.
Quote
Barrister Michael Polak of Justice Abroad and Church Court Chambers states the following:
The evidence in this case shows that Mr Choksi was kidnapped from Antigua, where he had outstanding cases before the Courts, and unlawfully renditioned to Dominica. We believe that the aim was for him to be whisked away to India bypassing the proper legal processes in Antigua and Dominica. Luckily Mr Choksi’s whereabouts, and what has happened to him, has now been discovered.
Mr Choksi’s case is before the High Court of the Commonwealth of Dominica. As an Antiguan citizen, who was kidnapped from Antigua and forced into Dominica, we say that the only proper resolution of this case is for Mr Choksi to be returned to Antigua where due process can be followed.
The Court must not to acquiesce to this serious executive misuse of power involving kidnapping and torture with the unlawful aim of denying Mr Choksi his rights before the Antiguan Courts.
This affair is becoming increasingly damaging for the reputation of Antigua, Dominica, the Caribbean, and the Commonwealth as places where the rule of law applies and the blatant untruths which have been circulated regarding what has taken place offend the intelligence of the people who are following this story.
CARICOM States that one of its visions is for a ‘Community where every citizen is secure and has the opportunity to realise his or her potential with guaranteed human rights.’ It is important that CARICOM speak up about this farce, and that they act decisively.
In the Commonwealth Charter it affirms that ‘the special strength of the Commonwealth lies in the combination of our diversity and our shared inheritance in language, culture and the rule of law’. For these words to have any meaning, the Commonwealth must also raise this case which involves at least three of its members countries.
The evidence is very clear. Mr Choksi has been kidnapped and he must be returned to Antigua.
Notes to Editors
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