31 economic offenders have fled India: Govt
NEW DELHI: Some 31 suspected economic offenders have fled the country to avoid prosecution, the government has told the Lok Sabha.
Asked if many businessmen had absconded after “doing scams” and settled in various other countries, Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar in a written reply gave a list of 31 persons, including Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, accused in the Punjab National Bank scam, who are under investigation by the Directorate of Enforcement and the CBI.
The others in the list include Nirav Modi’s wife Ami Nirav Modi and son Neeshal Modi, liquor baron Vijay Mallya, cricket czar Lalit Modi and arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.
The reply doesn’t mention the time since when they have been absconding from the country.
Akbar said the ministry had received extradition requests from the CBI in respect of Vijay Mallya, Ashish Jobanputra, Pushpesh Kumar Baid, Sanjay Kalra, Varsha Kalra and Arti Kalra. The requests, he said, have been sent to the concerned foreign countries for their consideration.
“The extradition request from CBI in respect of Sunny Kalra is under process by the Ministry of External Affairs. As per the information provided by Ministry of Finance, the government has decided to introduce the ‘Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018’ in the Parliament.
The bill will help in laying down measures to deter fugitive economic offenders from evading the process of Indian law and provides for expeditious confiscation of proceeds of crime and properties of fugitive economic offenders to make them submit to the jurisdiction of courts in India.
The others in the list are: Soumit Jena, Vijaykumar Revabhai Patel, Sunil Ramesh Rupani, Pushpesh Kumar Baid, Surender Singh, Angad Singh, Harsahib Singh, Harleen Kaur, Ashish Jobanputra, Jatin Mehta, Chetan Jayantilal Sandesara, Dipti Chetan Sandesara, Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara, Sabhya Seth, Nilesh Parekh, Umesh Parekh, Sunny Kalra, Aarti Kalra, Sanjay Kalra, Varsha Kalra, Hemant Gandhi, Ishwarbhai Bhat, M.G. Chandrasekhar, Cheriya Vannarakkal Sudeer, Nausha Kadeejath and Cheriya Veettil Sadique.
In a related development, the government has compiled a list of 91 people it is considering barring from leaving the country because of their involvement with companies that have defaulted on loans, a highly placed source said.
The people were selected because of their roles as directors or owners of Indian companies which have been identified as so-called wilful defaulters, firms which refuse to repay loans despite having the means to do so, the source said. Some 400 Indian companies have been classified as wilful defaulters.