India's patchy record in catching economic offenders despite Nirav Modi win

Before the Nirav Modi win, the Centre has stated in an RTI reply that of the 72 absconding economic offenders it has managed to bring only two in the past nearly six years

Nirav Modi, the diamond merchant wanted in India on charges of fraud and money laundering in the estimated USD 2-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case, on Thursday lost his legal battle against extradition as a UK judge ruled that he does have a case to answer before the Indian courts.

While this may be construed as a huge win for Indian government, an RTI reply published by IANS news agency last year shows India's record in catching economic fugitive offenders in last 6 years has been patchy at best. 

In a candid admission, the Centre has stated that of the 72 absconding economic offenders, the government has managed to bring only two in the past nearly six years, as per a reply under the Right To Information (RTI).

On January 4, 2019, the government had submitted the names of 27 businessmen who had defaulted on bank loans or other economic offences since 2015.

A year later on February 5, 2020, the Minister of State for Finance S.P. Shukla informed the Lok Sabha that a total of 72 Indians charged with frauds or financial irregularities are currently abroad and efforts are being made to bring them back to the country.

Mumbai RTI activist Jeetendra Ghadge, taking the 2019 reply as the base, filed an application with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) seeking details of those from among the 27 absconders who were successfully brought back home.

"I was shocked to learn that till date only 2 of the fugitives have been brought back to India to face the laws... They are Vinay Mittal and Sunny Kalra.

"The RTI reply doesn't comment on the other absconders, many of whom are very big names," Ghadge told IANS.

As per the MoSF reply to Lok Sabha in 2019, the hit-list included both individuals and families: Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Neeshal Modi, Mehul Choksi, Lalit Modi, Nitin J. Sandesara, Dipti Chetankumar Sandesara.

Besides, Sunny Kalra, Sanjay Kalra, S.K. Kalra, Aarti Kalra, Varsha Kalra, Umesh Parekh, Kamlesh Parekh, Nilesh Parekh, Ashish Jobanputra, Priti Ashish Jobanputra, Hitesh N. Patel, Mayuri Patel, Rajiv Goyal, Alka Goyal, Pushpesh Baid, Jatin Mehta, Eklavya Garg, Vinay Mittal, Sabya Seth and Ritesh Jain.

MoSF Shukla further said that the government is making an all-out effort to bring back the culprits by Look Out Circular, Red Corner Notice, extradition requests or action under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018, depending on the cases.

The government said the extradition option is quite complicated as it involves the legal process as per bilateral treaties, if any, with the concerned country and its own domestic laws, even as the number of fugitives tripled in a year.

Both the offenders Sunny Kalra and Vinay Mittal were finally brought back to face various charges of allegedly duping public and private sector banks of huge amounts.

Mittal, extradited from Indonesia in 2018, is accused of defrauding 7 banks to the tune of around Rs 40 crore, while Sunny Kalra brought back by CBI in March 2020 is charged with a Rs 10-crore loan fraud involving Punjab National Bank (PNB).

Ghadge said that two other queries pertaining to the Look Out Circular and Red Corner Notice against the absconders, was forwarded to the CBI and Ministry of Home Affairs who flatly declined to enlighten on the issue, prompting a First Appeal which is pending.

"Merely hauling back the small fries won't instill fear among the white-collar criminals... The government must catch the big fish like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, Nitin J. Sandesara, Lalit Modi, etc. to curb the loot of public monies," Ghadge said.

As per an earlier statement in Lok Sabha in March 2018, the government had said that 31 economic offenders had fled abroad, and many of them also figured in the list provided a year later in 2019.

The 2018 list included Ami Nirav Modi, Sanjay Bhandari, Soumit Jena, Vijaykumar Revabhai Patel, Sunil Ramesh Rupani, Surender Singh, Angad Singh, Harsahib Singh, Harleen Kaur, Nithin J. Sandesara, Hemant Gandhi, Ishwar Bhat, M.G. Chandrasekhar, C.V. Sudeer, Nausha Kadeejath and C.V. Sadiq.