A Belgian court on Tuesday rejected the bail petition of diamond merchant Mehul Choksi, who was arrested earlier this month in the Punjab National Bank fraud case, ANI reported.

Choksi was arrested by the Belgian police in the city of Antwerp on April 12 after India made an extradition request in connection with the alleged fraud case. He is wanted by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate.

Choksi’s lawyer Vijay Aggarwal said he was disappointed with the court having denied bail, but said that Belgian law allows for multiple bail petitions. “We will carefully consider the court’s observations and submit a fresh bail plea on new grounds soon,” he was quoted as saying by ANI.

Aggarwal said that Choksi’s legal team will contest his extradition based on two key arguments – the political nature of the case and concerns about his medical condition and access to treatment in India. The lawyer had said earlier this month that Choksi was undergoing cancer treatment.

Choksi is one of the prime accused, along with his nephew Nirav Modi, in the PNB fraud case.

The fraud came to light in February 2018 when the bank informed the stock exchange BSE that it had detected “fraudulent and unauthorised transactions” worth Rs 11,380 crore at a branch in South Mumbai.

A few officials of the public sector bank had allegedly issued fraudulent Letters of Undertaking to Modi’s companies, resulting in the loss of Rs 6,097.6 crore to PNB.

Choksi had also defaulted on another loan he had taken from ICICI Bank.

He had fled India for Antigua and Barbuda in January 2018, a few weeks before the fraud came to light and secured the citizenship of the Caribbean country. Choksi has been living in Belgium after obtaining a residency card.