Vanuatu PM Orders Cancellation Of Lalit Modi’s passport
New Delhi: The island nation Vanuatu has decided to cancel the passport granted to former Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Lalit Modi. On Monday (March 10), Vanuatu Prime Minister Jotham Napat instructed the cancellation of the following recent international media reports.
“I have instructed the Citizenship Commission to immediately begin proceedings to cancel Mr Modi’s Vanuatu passport,” Prime Minister said in an official statement.
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This development comes day after fugitive businessman submitted an application with the Indian High Commission in London to surrender his Indian passport.
Continuing further, Nepat said that although all background checks showed no criminal convictions, but he got recently made aware that Interpol rejected twice Indian authorities’ request notice to issue an alert on Lalit Modi due to insufficient evidence, which would have resulted in an automatic rejection of his citizenship application.
The Prime Minister then underlined that holding a Vanuatu passport is a privilege, not a right, and applicants must give legitimate reasons for citizenship.
“None of those legitimate reasons include attempting to avoid extradition, which the recent facts brought to light clearly indicate was Mr Modi’s intension,” the statement added.
Prime Minister further added that in recent years, the government has strengthened the evaluation process for its citizenship by investment programme, leading more applications failing enhanced scrutiny by the Vanuatu financial intelligence unit.
Meanwhile, as former IPL chairman has made an application for surrendering his passport in the Indian high commission in London, Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated that the request would be reviewed under “extant rules and procedures.”
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“We are also given to understand that he has acquired citizenship of Vanuatu. We continue to pursue the case against him as required under law,” Jaiswal has added.
Modi, previously served as the vice-president of BCCI, has been facing investigation by various law enforcement agencies in India relating to financial irregularities including forex violations and a Rs 425-crore television rights deal for the 2009 IPL with World Sports Group. He fled to the United Kingdom in 2010 and India has repeatedly sought former’s assistance in extraditing Modi.
