ED gets power to impound fleeing economic offenders' property

Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said the Bill will deter people from fleeing, and those who have already fled will return out of fear of attachment of their properties

Parliament on Wednesday passed the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, but not before the Opposition criticised the Narendra Modi government for lacking the political will to either bring back black money stashed abroad or extraditing economic offenders like Vijay Mallya, Mehul Choksi, and Nirav Modi.

The Rajya Sabha passed the Bill with a voice vote on Wednesday. The Lok Sabha had passed the Bill on July 19. The Bill - becomes law after the President’s assent - seeks to prevent economic offenders from fleeing the country and evading the legal process. It also gives teeth to the Enforcement Directorate to confiscate