India’s Diplomatic Win: Vanuatu PM Orders Cancellation of Lalit Modi Passport

In a major setback for fugitive businessman and former Indian Premier League (IPL) founder Lalit Modi, the Prime Minister of Vanuatu, Jotham Napat, has ordered the immediate cancellation of his Vanuatu passport. This development comes just days after Modi applied to surrender his Indian passport at the Indian High Commission in London.

The decision to revoke Lalit Modi’s Vanuatu citizenship follows revelations in international media that Indian law enforcement agencies want the businessman for siphoning off Rs 125 crore during his tenure at the helm of the IPL.

Refusing to shield India’s economic offender, Napat charged Modi with acquiring Vanuatu citizenship to evade extradition and stated that his government would not allow its passport system to be misused for such purposes. India has had cordial relations with small Island nations since 2014, and it looks like it has paid India in the form of rejecting Lalit Modi’s citizenship.

“I have instructed the Citizenship Commission to immediately begin proceedings to cancel Lalit Modi’s Vanuatu passport,” PM Napat said in an official statement. At the same time, Modi’s application underwent standard background checks, including Interpol screenings that did not reveal any prior criminal convictions at the time. Recent reports indicate that Interpol has twice rejected India’s requests to issue an alert notice against him due to a lack of substantive judicial evidence.

Interpol’s refusal to issue an alert, which would have automatically disqualified Lalit Modi from obtaining Vanuatu citizenship, was a significant factor in him securing the passport. However, the Vanuatu Prime Minister emphasized that citizenship is a privilege, not a right and that the IPL founder had obtained it for illegitimate reasons—primarily to avoid extradition.

Meanwhile, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed that Lalit Modi had submitted his passport surrender application on March 7.

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said, “He has made an application for surrendering his passport in the High Commission of India, London. The same will be examined in light of extant rules and procedures. We are also given to understand that he has acquired citizenship of Vanuatu. We continue to pursue the case against him as required under the law.”

According to reports, India’s High Commissioner to New Zealand, Neeta Bhushan, played a crucial role in influencing Vanuatu’s decision to revoke lalit Modi’s passport. The strategy of putting diplomatic pressure on small nations to either extradite or cancel citizenship is a part of the broader aim to bring economic fugitives who fled the country after defrauding Indian banks and institutions once they acquired hefty loans through the notorious ‘phone banking’ — loaning through phone calls by powerful ministers under the UPA government.

The Indian government is trying its best to extradite economic offenders, including Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, and Mehul Choksi, who fled India after swindling massive amounts of public money. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has been aggressively pursuing the extradition of these economic offenders turned fugitives through diplomatic pressure and legal channels. The government has succeeded in tightening extradition agreements with several countries. India is also collaborating with international agencies to bring economic fugitives to justice.

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In stark contrast, during the Congress-led UPA government, financial fugitives like Lalit Modi, Vijay Mallya, and Nirav Modi were able to siphon off thousands of crores from Indian banks. The absence of strong legal action and political will during the UPA government enabled these economic criminals to access loans at ease, thus stressing Indian bank’s finance sheets. While Indian taxpayers bore the brunt. But the new government’s proactive attitude has seen the properties of these economic offenders getting attached, with additional cases actively being pursued. But contrary to the truth, opposition parties particularly, Rahul Gandhi led Congress has been launching smear campaign against the Modi government alleging that it is soft on these economic offenders and allegedly ‘wrote off’ their loans while it didn’t extend the same facility for Indian farmers, bizarly conflating issues as per whims and fancies. 

The cancellation of Lalit Modi’s Vanuatu passport is another success in India’s diplomatic campaign to find and bring economic fugitives. The Modi government continues to encourage tighter international cooperation to keep such criminals out of safe havens overseas.