Vanuatu cancels Lalit Modi's passport for 'attempt to avoid extradition'

Jotham Napat, Vanuatu's Prime Minister has directed the Citizenship Commission to cancel the Vanuatu passport issued to fugitive businessman Lalit Modi, reported news agency PTI. This comes days after Lalit Modi, founder of the Indian Premier League (IPL), applied to surrender his Indian passport at the Indian High Commission in London.

 

In a media release, Napat said, "While all standard background checks, including Interpol screenings, conducted during his (Lalit Modi's) application showed no criminal convictions, I have been made aware that in the past 24 hours Interpol twice rejected Indian authorities' request to issue an alert on Mr Modi due to lack of substantive judicial evidence. Any such alert would have triggered an automatic rejection of Mr Modi's citizenship application."

 

 

Napat emphasised that holding a Vanuatu passport is a "privilege, not a right, and applicants must seek citizenship for legitimate reasons."

 

"None of those legitimate reasons include attempting to avoid extradition, which the recent facts brought to light clearly indicate was Mr Modi's intention," he stated.

 

Last week, reports surfaced that Lalit Modi had acquired Vanuatu's citizenship, a small island nation in the South Pacific known for its Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programme.

 

Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, stated that India is continuing to pursue the case against the former IPL boss according to the law.

The case against Lalit Modi

Lalit Modi, who previously served as the vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), is accused of bid-rigging, money laundering, and violating the Foreign Exchange Management Act of 1999 (FEMA). He left India in 2010 while under investigation for financial misconduct, including unauthorised fund transfers.

What is citizenship by investment programme

Vanuatu's citizenship by investment programme allows investors to obtain the passport within 30 to 60 days. According to a BBC report, the programme costs somewhere between $135,500 and $155,500 (approximately Rs 1.18 crore to Rs 1.35 crore) and accounts for nearly 30 per cent of the country's national revenue. This programme also has a 'no-residency' requirement, which means that the applicants do not necessarily have to reside in the country to obtain citizenship.