Cabinet approves bill to seize all assets of 'fugitive offenders'

Even as the country struggles to get hold of billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi in connection with the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud, the Cabinet today approved Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill 2018.

The Bill could facilitate action against absconding offenders.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while addressing media after the Cabinet meeting said: "Under the Bill all the assets (in the country) of the offender will be confiscated and not only the proceeds of crime. Even benami assets, if any, would be seized."

This Bill also has a provision to confiscate assets of the offender in foreign land as well, for which the government will have to make arrangements with different countries.

It will target big defaulters, he said. The Bill will be introduced in the Budget Session of the Parliament.

A government note on the bill says, "There have been several instances of economic offenders fleeing the jurisdiction of Indian courts, anticipating the commencement, or during the pendency, of criminal proceedings. The absence of such offenders from Indian courts has several deleterious consequences--first, it hampers investigation in criminal cases; second, it wastes precious time of courts of law; third, it undermines the rule of law in India. Further, several such cases of economic offences involve non-repayment of bank loans thereby causing strain on the banking sector in India."

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