Following the repeated occurrence of bank scams, the Cabinet has approved the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill. This bill entails strict provisions regarding the assets of those who flee the country after cheating the banks. The bill imposes stringent and uncompromised law on confiscating the assets of the culprit.
This bill also includes the formulation of an independent regulating body for auditors for the concerned individual. This bill will be operational in retrospective effect.
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The approval had become a necessity in the light of the NiMo and Mehul Choksi’s case involving money laundering, bank cheating of over Rs 12000 crore and forged documents. The last case was that of Vijay Mallya who fled to the UK with crores of rupees of the nation.
“We will try and make sure this is passed as expeditiously as possible because we can’t allow people to make a mockery of law that you first indulge in loot and then refuse to submit to the jurisdiction of our legal system,” Jaitley said. On being asked about the possibility of this law being passed, he said, “I think we have a very responsible Parliament. It can’t come to the aid of such people.”
“The existing civil and criminal provisions in law are not entirely adequate to deal with the severity of the problem,” the government said in a statement.
The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, if passed will entitle the government with the right to attach all the assets of the concerned person, including those acquired from the proceedings of the wrongful or scrupulous gains and benami assets.
Not only this, the government also plans to establish an international cooperative mechanism to attach the foreign assets of the person who has been declared fugitive.
However, this bill comes with its own standards. The bill only covers those frauds above Rs 100 crore so that the special courts for hearing are not overburdened by the proceedings of the less significant cases.
As far as Nirav Modi is concerned, he is still believed to hiding himself in the lands of Unites States at a luxurious hotel property. Once gone, it’s very hard to bring these defaulters back. The only way is to seize their assets and make due repayments.
