A YEAR AFTER THE BILLIONAIRE FRAUDSTER MEHUL CHOKSI WAS ORDERED EXTRADITED TO FACE THE MUSIC IN INDIA, HE IS STILL IN A JAIL IN BELGIUM: POLITICS, UNDUE INFLUENCE, CORRUPTION OR ALL THREE?

If you follow the biggest financial crime cases, you know that the Indian diamond merchant MEHUL CHOKSI's extradition, on fraud charges alleging theft of more than the equivalent of USD$2bn from Punjab National Bank, was affirmed on appeal on October 18, 2025 by the Antwerp Court of Appeal, and that his final appeal was dismissed by the country's Court of Cassation, on December 9, 2025. So why, a year later, has India's Most Wanted Fugitive not been extradited for the pending charges of forgery, criminal conspiracy and embezzlement?

Belgium’s courts and judiciary are generally not classified as systemically corrupt, and the country maintains a functioning, independent legal system. However, public trust and institutional integrity in Belgium's justice and law enforcement sectors have faced mounting criticism and scrutiny. While earlier contesting extradition from ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA, Choksi is believed to have paid substantial bribes to court staff, members of the the local judiciary, and senior political officials in Prime Minister GASTON BROWNE's Labour government. Has he successfully corrupted government officers in Belgium?

The Belgian Justice Ministry and its prosecution department are reviewing the technicalities and logistics of the final handoff. As of late 2026, Belgian authorities stated that the case is still under formal examination before the final surrender order is executed. Why hasn't this governmental review been completed, pursuant to the existing extradition treaty between Belgium and India? Justice delayed is justice denied; the case has been delayed for far too long. We trust that Belgian authorities will see that it is served. Send India's greedy Jabba the Hutt home, please.

LISTEN TO DUAL CITIZENSHIP ATTORNEY PARVIZ MALAKOUTI INTERVIEW ME REGARDING FRAUD AND THE UNDERBELLY OF THE CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT INDUSTRY

 

A no-holds barred discussion of Caribbean Citizenship by Investment programs, and economic citizenship in general.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZrqP1Fs0n8

DOMINICA WORKS WITH THE UNITED STATES; ANTIGUA, NOT REALLY

Antiguans angry about the status of the visa restrictions imposed upon their citizens by the United States would do well to observe the differences between how the Commonwealth of Dominica interacts with America, and how Antigua's Labour government conducts diplomatic and other relations.

First of all, Dominica has entered into a third-party agreement with the United States, and it has since accepted deportees. Antigua's dealings with the United States on accepting deportees is fraught with strong political rhetoric from its Prime Minister, and incomplete negotiations where Antigua's demands included a low cap on how many would be accepted, as well as a requirement that thet U.S. pay approximately USD$75,000 per person, to cover alleged costs.

Second, although this is not generally known, Dominica extensively cooperates with American law enforcement agencies seeking to stem the ongoing traffic in narcotics transiting the Caribbean, en route to North America. Antigua has no such history of cooperation in such matters, and its corrupt judicial system operates to delay the extradition of individuals wanted by the Department of Justice for years.

Finally, while the Government of Dominica generally has favorable commentary regarding the United States, senior politicians in Antigua and Barbuda have spewed pro-Cuba and pro-China positions, while also claiming that American policies are incompatible with Antigua's sovereign rights. Now, which country do you think will have its visa restrictions lifted first?  

DON'T BELIEVE THE DISTRACTIONS; ANTIGUANS LOST THEIR AMERICAN VISA PRIVILEGES SOLELY BECAUSE OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY THREATS POSED TO THE UNITED STATES BY THE ROGUE CIP PROGRAM, NOT CHINA ISSUES

The Purveyor of Disinformation

We sincerely hope that Antiguans completely understand the disinformation being handed out by their country's Prime Minister, GASTON BROWNE, concerning precisely why they can no longer secure those prized multiple entry visas to visit the United States. It is the National Security threats America has recognized exist due solely to the issuance of CIP passports to unqualified individuals from high risk countries that is the problem, and not Antigua's affiliation with China, as Browne recently alleged on his radio program; This is nonsense.

Also, do not be taken in by the hints the government has repeatedly dropped, to the effect that it is fully engaged in concrete negotiations with the U.S. to remove the Draconian visa restrictions; in truth and and in fact, this is nothing more than a pipe dream created by Brown to deceive and lead on his constituents, so that they will start waiting patiently for a favorable result, which such disinformation implies will occur sometime in the indefinite future.

It is humbly suggested that Antiguans accept the American visa reality, and make alternative plans for holiday or business travel, to Europe, while you still can, for there is no guarantee that your Prime Minister's games that he is attempting to play with the European Commission will not result in the imposition of visa restrictions to the EU. It may come down to a future for Antiguans where they are restricted to visa-free travel only amongst the other states of the Eastern Caribbean, given the erratic behavior of the current Antiguan government, which they handily elected not so long ago; face facts, Antiguans.

COMING SOON: CARIBBEAN COMMENTARY WITH KEN RIJOCK

Readers of my articles on legal, social, political and economic developments in the Eastern Caribbean will be interested to know that I will shortly be broadcasting, live on radio and also available via the Internet, CARIBBEAN COMMENTARY WITH KEN RIJOCK, each week. Stay tuned for more details where you can tune in to hear the program.. I will be covering the entire region, from the Virgin Islands down to Trinidad and Tobago, and all the states in between.

Watch for it.

EXODUS: HOW MANY ANTIGUANS WILL JOIN THE EXISTING 13,000 EXPATS WHEN THEIR COUNTRY'S ECONOMY, DEPRIVED OF THE CIP FUNDING IT HAS RELIED UPON, CRASHES AND BURNS IN 2029 OR 2030?

While many readers have commented on my recent article,

POST-CIP, ANTIGUA WILL NOT BE ABLE TO FUND ITS SWOLLEN GOVERNMENTAL AGENCY STAFFING, RESULTING IN MASSIVE LAYOFS AND SERIOUS ECONOMIC CONTRACTION

Antiguans should be considering their individual responses to my prediction of a serious local economic malaise, in the aftermath of the loss of the government's principal fiscal crutch, its Citizenship by Investment (CIP) funding. I must admit that I have counseled more than one Antiguan professional to relocate, sooner rather than later, because of what I regard to be an economic tsunami which will devastate the country's economic structure, from top to bottom.

My advice is that they join the more than 14% of Antiguan citizens who have, for economic, social, familial, or personal reasons, become expats, before they find their sources of income, whether from private employment, businesses they own or manage, or even their prized government staff jobs disappear in a flash, after governmental budgets implode, and widespread layoffs impact the fragile economy, through a serious shortage in the part of consumers to pay for the cost of living, let alone have any disposable income.

The problem is, where will all these people migrate to? The present American government will be in office until January 2029, and immigration changes to the current Draconian impediments to visas and immigration will most likely not return to the previously friendly regulations. Canada's mandatory visa policy and strict path for permanent legal residency rule it out as a feasible alternative. What about the UK and Europe? Honestly, is someone has transportable skills, which are in demand, they might qualify, but what about all the others, especially those without university degrees and marketable occupations? My fear is that they will remain within Antigua, unemployed and with bleak prospects. Perhaps all those people who repeatedly voted to allow the current Labour government to exploit the CIP program to pay bills, instead of job and industry creation, should have thought about what would happen when the finite CIP money machine ran dry, or closed up shop. What are they all to do now for income to pay their bills in 2029?

POST-CIP, ANTIGUA WILL NOT BE ABLE TO FUND ITS SWOLLEN GOVERNMENTAL AGENCY STAFFING, RESULTING IN MASSIVE LAYOFS AND SERIOUS ECONOMIC CONTRACTION

Small nation with far too many on the government payroll

While the ruling monarch of the United Kingdom may have recently blessed its former colonial possession, Antigua and Barbuda, with his presence during the meeting of the leaders of the Commonwealth of Nations, when Britain granted independence to the two island state, it left it with a dysfunctional economy whose sole industry supporting a tax base was its tourism, which has been insufficient alone to sustain the nation, which has a growing population.

The most accurate estimates available today show Antigua and Barbuda have a total population around 95,000. The country's government reportedly has as many as 15,500 public sector employees, which amounts to close to one third of the total estimated active work force of 54,000 individuals. This is an extraordinary percentage, which has evolved due in large part to the unavailability of employment positions in the depressed local economy. As approximately 15% of Antigua's government budget comes from CIP revenue, the anticipated loss of such a significant portion of revenue after June 2028 will result in massive layoffs and termination of government workers, because there simply will not be sufficient funds on hand to pay their salaries.

Such a major loss of income for government workers will have a knock-on effect on the already fragile economy, as fired public sector staff will not have cash to make the purchases that fuel the economic machine, involving retail purchases, as well as paying their recurring monthly fiscal obligations. The entire local economy will all but grind to a halt, due to the huge amount of newly unemployed residents, all of whom cannot sustain their standard of living.

Many of the approximately 5000 Antiguans who hold university degrees, or the equivalent, most of whom could only find government employment in the small island economy, and who generally enjoy income higher than the rest of the public, will be terminated, and their lack of income will have a serious impact upon all sectors of the economy.

This is why the country's Prime Minister, Gaston Browne, has been desperately seeking some sort of accommodation with the European Commission, attempting gain economic aid to replace the soon-to-be-gone CIP revenue. His statements that the loss of CIP money will only cause Antigua to lose its current financial cushion ignore the sad reality that the country's principal employer, the government, will in 2028 at the latest lose the ability to pay its public sector staff, crashing the fragile local economy. This is what happens when a government becomes so dependent upon a funding source that it neglects to develop and diversify the country's economy; the badly needed new industries and good jobs were never created with CIP revenue. Being developmentally lazy will soon come back to haunt Antiguans in their pocketbooks, and their short-sighted leadership is to blame.

HAS ITS BANKING SCANDAL DISQUALIFIED NEVIS AS A SAFE OFFSHORE FINANCIAL CENTER?

The dynamics of the unfolding civil litigation against two of the most prominent offshore banks in Nevis are having an impact in the generally private world of professionals whose clients are referred to tax haven jurisdictions for asset protection. The rumors, which far exceed the reports of the multiple lawsuits, and which have not yet been verified, are troubling:
(1) That one of the offshore banks maintains so-called "Phantom accounts," on behalf of clients who would not qualify as customers under the bank's reputedly efficient and effective due diligence ( Customer Identification) program.
(2) That the Nevis financial regulator was ordered by the Premier not to take any enforcement action whatsoever against any offshore financial institution licensed in the jurisdiction.
(3) That the CEO of one of Nevis-based trusts has no educational, professional or employment background in asset protection.
(4) That certain offshore bank directors are intentionally avoiding any visits to Nevis, fearing arrest by Saint Kitts & Nevis law enforcement officers, acting under the orders of the sitting High Court Justice.

Given the present refusal of the offshore banks involved in the civil litigation to obey the lawful orders of the local court of competent jurisdiction, regarding disbursement of the funds of demand depositors, asset protection professionals will most likely give the two island Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis a wide berth, until the scandal sorts itself out, but the damage to Nevis' reputation as a safe and sane destination for capital may be permanent.

FACING THE IMMINENT LOSS OF THEIR PRIZED CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT PASSPORT SALES REVENUE, HOW MANY OF THE EASTERN CARIBBEAN CIP STATES WILL RETURN TO DRUG MONEY LAUNDERING?

Compliance officers at international banks in North America and Europe, noting the impact of the EU policy forbidding economic passport programs, and watching the ALEX SAAB MORAN and NICOLAS MADURO cases play out in Federal Courts in New York and Miami, are now expressing well-founded concerns that the leaders of the East Caribbean Five will close their eyes, and permit a resurgence in money laundering activities, to replace lost CBI revenue. They have seen how ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA, and to a significantly lesser extent, THE COMMONWEALTH OF DOMINICA, engaged in narcotics money laundering with the Maduro /Saab organization, and foresee a swift return to the massive laundering of narcotics profits that plagued the region in the 1980s and 1990s, and resulted in FATF NCCT designations.

All the necessary prerequisites present themselves; corrupt national leaders whose avarice knows no bounds; pliant banks whose underpaid officers are extremely susceptible to bribes and kickbacks; a total lack of regulatory control; and courts whose judges, appointed by bad leaders, choose to follow their orders, rather than the Rule of Law. Call it a Perfect Storm just waiting for the arrival of professional money launderers, their arms laden with drug profits of Latin American cartels selling their products in Europe, as well as the United States & Canada.

Given the current reduced focus of the U.S. Department of Justice on white collar crime, under orders of the current American administration, and the fact that it will takes a couple of years for the next administration to ramp up enforcement capability, money launderers for the cartels most certainly see a target of opportunity, with fiscal needs that they can easily fulfill, and the cleaning of narco-profits through Caribbean financial institutions can easily ensue, with little or no adverse consequences.

Compliance officers, cognizant that the United States is pointedly ignoring the massive CBI money laundering which has been occurring in the region during the present pro-business American administration, correctly predict that drug money laundering may be back in the Caribbean shortly, as the leadership seeks alternative, albeit illegal, sources of funding to cover their national budgets, and deep pockets, and they intend to watch for it.

HAMILTON RESERVE BANK'S SOLE RESIDENT DIRECTOR FLEES THE COUNTRY, AVOIDING SERVICE IN NEVIS' EXPANDING OFFSHORE BANKING SCANDAL

HOWARD A. LEWIS, the only director of beleaguered HAMILTON RESERVE BANK resident in Nevis, where the bank is licensed, and maintains its principal place of business, has reportedly fled the Federation of Saint Kitts & Nevis on a private chartered aircraft. Our sources report that he cannot be found to accept service of process from representatives of the High Court, which had ordered that USD$85.1m be paid over to the bank's depositors by 9AM on October 29, 2026. Lewis also holds a title as a Hamilton Bank officer. The circumstances surrounding how he was allowed to leave the jurisdiction, given his prominent role at the troubled bank, have been deemed suspicious by Nevisians who have been monitoring the case.

All the other bank directors reside abroad, mainly in the United Kingdom, outside the jurisdiction of the court, which is reportedly seeking enforcement action on the Omnibus Judgment entered on September 15, 2026. Lewis' wife is the Legal Advisor to the Nevis Island Administration; it is not known whether she is also missing and unaccounted for.

ANTIGUA: THOSE WHO FORGET THE LESSONS OF HISTORY, ARE BOUND TO REPEAT THE SAME MISTAKES

We notice that the principal sponsor of this week's cricket games at the COMMONWEALTH HEADS OF GOVERNMENT MEETING, or CHOGM, being held in Antigua, is a controversial offshore bank that has defaulted upon a High Court Order to pay over to its customers their demand deposits, totaling eighty five million dollars, and which is prominently displaying its role at the event. Does Antigua's Prime Minister GASTON BROWNE not remember the painful financial, social and economic lessons his country was taught, due to its climbing into bed with former cricket sponsor ALLEN STANFORD and his STANFORD INTERNATIONAL BANK? I was in Antigua in the immediate aftermath of that scandal, and I witnessed the national malaise that infected Antiguans when the music died, and they were left holding an empty bag.

How soon Antiguans have forgotten that financial nightmare without end, a Ponzi scheme whose consequences affected the country for years. Apparently nobody in St. John's chooses to learn from this dark episode in Antigua's history, as is obvious from the association it has now attached itself to.

ANTIGUA'S PRIME MINISTER RUEFULLY ADMITS WHY NOBODY WANTS THE SALE OF ECONOMIC PASSPORTS TO STOP: LARGE LOANS OUTSTANDING TO LOCAL BANKS ARE SECURED BY FUTURE CIP REVENUE

GASTON BROWNE, the manipulative Prime Minister of Antigua & Barbuda, in a recent communication to the European Commission, has asked for an extension, to the year 2030, before his country must suspend Citizenship by Investment (CIP) passport sales. He has also asked the EU for financial aid, claiming that his state's governmental budget is so heavily dependent upon CIP revenue that it will need alternate forms of funding to survive. He also asserts that the developers who are engaged in construction, with CIP funding, need additional time to accumulate it, or they may be forced to abandon their projects in midstream. ThIs sounds suspiciously like CIP revenue to developers has been greatly reduced recently.

More ominously, Browne has admitted that one of the primary reasons Antigua needs four more years of CIP cash flow is because "local and regional banks" have extended credit in the form of loans, to his government, and the sole collateral is future CIP revenue. This dangerous situation, which means that Antigua was counting on years of future CIP payments, even though the program has obviously been in jeopardy for years, as American, Canadian and European governments condemned its abject due diligence failures, and granting of passports to known white collar criminals, fraudsters, citizens of high-risk countries and of designated state sponsors of terrorism.

If, as expected, the European Commission denies Antigua the four year cushion Browne is pleading for, and the government of Antigua is then unable to cover its debt service timely, then the Caribbean banks who extended it credit could fail, and Antigua is years away from building its own depositor insurance plan; the new law contemplates it will be 2031 before bank clients are protected, and the coverage will be minimal. This means that any major bank failures, or administration by regulators, could wipe out the life savings of most of the Antiguan working class. It could also spell the total loss of American correspondent accounts.

No wonder there is fear and loathing in the Office of the Prime Minister, in a small Caribbean state which is top-heavy with government staff, due to its poor, single industry, economy; if all those government employees lose their jobs will the result be a major economic dislocation?

Finally, did all the other four EC CBI & CIP passport-selling states in the region also quietly borrow millions, collateralized by future passport revenue? If so, are we looking at a future Caribbean economic catastrophe after 2028, and if so, being that Antiguans are already unwelcome in the United States; will the UK and EU, both already swollen with immigration issues, admit them as economic refugees?

AMERICAN FRAUDSTER KRISTY ROSS ATTENDS MULTIPLE EVENTS IN THE EASTERN CARIBBEAN; STILL OWES $163m FOR FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION JUDGMENT

Readers who requested a photograph of the American fraudster KRISTY MARIE ROSS, described by the United States Government in official court filings as an "apparent fugitive," because she has reportedly spent the last decade abroad, to allegedly evade an active $163 million judgment entered against her for her participation in a massive "scare ware" scam, will note the above publicly-available photographs of her in attendance at CIS '26, this year's Caribbean Investment Summit in Saint Lucia. It is also known that she also attended the STEP Conference, also held in St. Lucia, during that period. 

I am sure readers will recognize the individual seated next to her in these photographs. Our sources further advise that she had business cards there showing her affiliation with Nevis-based HAMILTON RESERVE BANK; she is known to fly exclusively aboard charter aircraft in the region. We can neither confirm nor deny whether she has an outstanding warrant for her arrest in the United States, as this information is not publicly available.

(personal information redacted)

 Another source has contributed what appears to be the photo page from a Saint Kitts & Nevis Citizenship by Investment (CB) passport; we note that it was issued to her several years after the multi-million dollar judgment was entered against her, and the judgment was affirmed by the Court of Appeals, meaning that she would have been rejected out of hand during the due diligence application process. As we have previously stated, it has been alleged that Nevis Premier MARK BRANTLEY was personally involved in securing her passport. 

  

  

EVEN AFTER THE SUSPENSION OF EASTERN CARIBBEAN CBI PROGRAMS, THE EUROPEAN UNION WILL STILL FACE YEARS OF ECONOMIC PASSPORTS IN THE HANDS OF BAD ACTORS, FRAUDSTERS, FINANCIAL CRIMINALS AND INTERNATIONAL SANCTIONS EVADER

Lest you think that the EU will leave all its issues with Eastern Caribbean economic passports behind, when the five EU states with CBI programs suspend them, compliance officers at international banks know very well that they face years of increased risk of financial crime from the tens of thousands of existing economic passport holders, including these issues:

(1) The Iranians, Russians, North Koreans, Chinese and other residents of high-risk, sanctioned and terrorist sponsor jurisdictions who hold EC CBI passports, issued by Saint Kitts & Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Saint Lucia and Grenada, will all still have visa-free access, to engage in money laundering, fraud, espionage, sanctions evasions, national security breaches, and sundry other crimes and transgressions.

(2) Forgers who will extend the expiration dates on existing CBI passports for bad actors, or create new bogus passports for criminals. Given that we cannot trust any of the EC states to be honest about who was issued valid passports, due to rampant greed and corruption, there will never be a database to check documents against. No country's Prime Ministers want to admit to the massive corruption they have engaged in to date.

(3) The resale of existing passports will feed an underground cottage industry in those prized identity documents, among the career criminal population, especially the money launderers, as well as the world's intelligence services, for many years, so long as the Schengen Zone ETIAS program blindly accepts EC passports showing that the holder was not born in the Caribbean.

For compliance officers, the problem will not go away until the last possible expiration date on a CBI passport issued on the last day in 2028 possible for one to be issued passes, and since we know that backdating applications has been the order of the day in the Eastern Caribbean, to evade restrictions, will we ever see a day when those CBI passports no longer pose a financial crime and national security threat to Europe? Doubtful.

WILL WE SEE AN ISSUANCE OF WRITS OF CONTROL AGAINST HAMILTON RESERVE BANKS AND BONI THIS WEEK IN NEVIS?

           

As of the close of business yesterday, High Court staff in Nevis reported that no funds had been placed into the Court Registry to satisfy the Omnibus Judgment entered on September 15, 2026. The order, which has neither been stayed nor set aside by the Court of Appeals, specified payment in full no later than 9 O'Clock A.M., Atlantic Time, this morning.

There are reports that plaintiffs' counsel in both cases intends to apply for and obtain Writs of Control forthwith, (which our American readers call a Writ of Execution) which are issued by the Clerk of Court. This authorizes government agents to seize property of a judgment debtor, if after demand for payment is made and declined, and later sell off such assets to satisfy the judgment(s).

It is noteworthy that the Judgment also called upon the Premier and regulatory authorities to report to the Court on its request for an investigation, as well as suspension of the banking licenses of both offshore banks. Curiously, HRB's banking license was just very recently renewed, and we wonder whether the reports ordered to be submitted will actually appear in court today.

It is expected that counsel for the victims, both those who now posses judgments, and those who have not as yet reduced their claims to civil litigation, will now take alternative action in the courts to redress their grievances, and recover their deposits. It would be premature to specify who their probable targets might be, and we do not wish to give those individuals any advance notice, allowing them to fraudulently transfer assets to evade justice, although some media have already identified the likely targets, and their personal liability appears to have a factual and evidentiary basis. We intend to update our readers later this week on all developments as they occur.