MCA issues look out circular against 20 persons

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has sent out a look-out circular with the names of over 20 people suspected of economic offence, sources said on Monday. Sources said the circular includes the name of Naresh Goyal, the Chairman of the now-grounded Jet Airways.

Look out circulars are issued by several authorities, including the Ministry of External Affairs, MCA, Income Tax Department and Enforcement Directorate, to keep a watch on arrival to and departure from India of both Indians and foreign nationals.

The look out notice has been served against people who allegedly siphoned funds or were involved in serious fraud and irregular transactions, sources said.

Indicating a strict stance against economic offenders, the circular sent out to investigating and securities agencies says their "summer vacation needs to stop".

People with knowledge of the developments said that the list has been prepared over time and will be revised and new names will be added if needed.

The development comes soon after Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita were offloaded from a London-bound flight in Mumbai on Saturday. According to sources, they were offloaded due to a look out circular issued against them by the MCA and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO).

Meanwhile, CMDs of both public and private sector banks have also been empowered to inform law enforcement agencies if a notice needs to be served against any willful deafaulter whom they suspect of trying to abscond from the country. In a few cases, the banks have also been asked to take custody of passports of such offenders.

The government and the law enforcement agencies seem to have become proactive after receiving a lot of flak with economic offenders such as Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya fleeing the country in the past few years.

Now, with the BJP-led NDA set for its second term, it would be interesting to see how it further deals with cases of economic offence and offenders. As a first step, look out notices would be used aggressively to pursue offenders and prevent them from leaving the country by taking pre-emptive steps.

--IANS

rrb/arm