Cabinet okays Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill to avoid a Nirav Modi repeat
ET Online and Agencies|
Updated: Mar 01, 2018, 06.36 PM IST
The government is finally going after corporate fugitives like Nirav Modi. On Thursday, the Cabinet approved a new law to confiscate assets of those who get away with unpaid liabilities.
Official sources said the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the bill, which is likely to be brought before Parliament in the second half of the budget session beginning March 5.
The bill, according to a report in ET NOW, will treat economic offenders as criminals.
The provisions of the bill will apply for economic offenders who refuse to return. Persons against whom an arrest warrant has been issued for a scheduled offence as well as wilful bank loan defaulters with outstanding over Rs 100 crore.
The bill defines a ‘fugitive economic offender’ as any individual against whom a warrant for arrest in relation to an economic offence has been issued and the person has left the country and refuses to return to India to face criminal prosecution. The provisions of the bill will override other legislations dealing with economic offences.
Such economic offenders will be tried under prevention of money laundering act.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that a new national financial reporting authority would be set up as an umbrella body to deal with such cases.
A significant implication of this move could be that auditing powers of CAs may be curtailed. Jaitley however said that the new body won't interfere with the activities of CAs.
A fugitive offender can't pursue a civil claim in India, the FM said.
What does the Bill do?
It gives the Centre the right to seize property and assets of economic offenders and defaulters who flee India. The bill will cover a wide range of offences, including wilful loan defaults, cheating and forgery, forged or fraudulent document of electronic records, duty evasion, non-repayment of deposits and others.
The government has been under attack from Congress as loan defaulters such as Vijay Mallya have managed evade the law in India and Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, too, have refused to cooperate with agencies investigating the alleged fraud orchestrated by them at PNB’s Brady House branch in Mumbai.
There are several smaller players, such as Karol Bagh-based Dwarka Das Seth International whose promoters have allegedly fled the country and loans have remained unpaid. The CBI registered a case against the Delhi-based jeweller related to a Rs 390-crore loan taken from Oriental Bank of Commerce.
Official sources said the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the bill, which is likely to be brought before Parliament in the second half of the budget session beginning March 5.
The bill, according to a report in ET NOW, will treat economic offenders as criminals.
The provisions of the bill will apply for economic offenders who refuse to return. Persons against whom an arrest warrant has been issued for a scheduled offence as well as wilful bank loan defaulters with outstanding over Rs 100 crore.
The bill defines a ‘fugitive economic offender’ as any individual against whom a warrant for arrest in relation to an economic offence has been issued and the person has left the country and refuses to return to India to face criminal prosecution. The provisions of the bill will override other legislations dealing with economic offences.
Such economic offenders will be tried under prevention of money laundering act.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that a new national financial reporting authority would be set up as an umbrella body to deal with such cases.
A significant implication of this move could be that auditing powers of CAs may be curtailed. Jaitley however said that the new body won't interfere with the activities of CAs.
A fugitive offender can't pursue a civil claim in India, the FM said.
What does the Bill do?
It gives the Centre the right to seize property and assets of economic offenders and defaulters who flee India. The bill will cover a wide range of offences, including wilful loan defaults, cheating and forgery, forged or fraudulent document of electronic records, duty evasion, non-repayment of deposits and others.
The government has been under attack from Congress as loan defaulters such as Vijay Mallya have managed evade the law in India and Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, too, have refused to cooperate with agencies investigating the alleged fraud orchestrated by them at PNB’s Brady House branch in Mumbai.
There are several smaller players, such as Karol Bagh-based Dwarka Das Seth International whose promoters have allegedly fled the country and loans have remained unpaid. The CBI registered a case against the Delhi-based jeweller related to a Rs 390-crore loan taken from Oriental Bank of Commerce.
