Indian authorities said there was “no adverse information” against fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi when Antigua conducted a background check on him before giving him citizenship, the Caribbean country said on Thursday.

Choksi fled India in January, a few weeks before a massive scam at Punjab National Bank came to light. He and his nephew Nirav Modi are accused of defrauding the bank of over Rs 13,000 crore.

Antigua’s Citizenship By Investment Unit said it had received Choksi’s application for citizenship in May 2017 with the necessary documents, including a police clearance certificate. “The said police clearance certificate from the Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs, Regional Passport Office, Mumbai, certified that there was no adverse information against Mr Mehul Chinubbhai Choksi which would ‘render him ineligible for grant of travel facilities including visa for Antigua and Barbuda’,” the Citizenship By Investment Unit said.

Choksi’s application was subjected to “stringent background checks which included open source internet checks, Thompson Reuters World-Check, queries of various sanctions lists, engagement with regional and international intelligence agencies to include Interpol as well as contracted third-party due diligence providers”, it added.

“It was only after the results of all of these checks had been received and assessed that a final decision was taken on the application,” the government said. “In no instance was any derogatory information disclosed on the applicant.”

Choksi was granted citizenship in November 2017. Last month, he said that he had “lawfully applied” to become a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda to expand his business interests in the Caribbean and used the country’s Citizenship Investment Program to invest in the country in exchange for its citizenship. The CIP’s aim is to make use of the estimated $2 million global citizenship market.

Choksi’s citizenship, which cost him a little more than Rs 1.3 crore, was cleared before the Central Bureau of Investigation registered the first case of bank fraud against him and his nephew Nirav Modi.

Antigua’s statement also mentioned that it had received documents about two investigations conducted by the Securities and Exchange Board of India into Choksi’s corporate entity in 2014 and 2017. The market regulator, however, clarified on Friday that it had not provided any such information to the Citizenship By Investment Unit.

When asked for updates, the SEBI told Antigua that one case had been “satisfactorily closed” while there wasn’t enough evidence in the other case to pursue it. “None of these matters is the subject of the current warrants issued by Central Bureau of Investigations in connection with the Punjab National Bank,” the Citizenship By Investment Unit said.

“Were there an active warrant for Mr Choksi at the time his citizenship application was being processed, this information should have already been made available to Interpol, a notification of which would have been readily accessible by the CIU and its due diligence partners,” the Antiguan agency added. “Further, the warrant should have formed a part of the criminal records database in India and therefore declared in the police clearance certificate issued by Ministry of External Affairs.”

The PNB scam emerged “well after the background vetting process” the agency said, adding that this resulted in the August 2017 approval of Choksi’s application and his subsequent registration as a citizen in November.

Last week, Antigua Foreign Minister Chet Greene said his government would have denied citizenship to Choksi if it had known about the charges against him.