In a
move aimed at giving the government more powers to bring fugitive
economic offenders to book, the Union cabinet on Thursday March 01,2018 gave its
assent to a bill that will empower the government to attach properties
of such offenders, both within the country and overseas.
The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018 will be applicable for all offences where the monetary value exceeds Rs100 crore. It will bring under its ambit all individuals eluding the Indian legal process on the date of the enactment of the law, thereby ensuring that existing fugitives are covered.
A person will be declared a fugitive economic offender if he has committed an offence (specified in the bill) and an arrest warrant has been issued by a competent court but the person has left the country to escape prosecution.
The bill seeks to give powers to the government to provisionally attach property on the issuance of an arrest warrant to ensure that fugitives are not able to sell their assets pending due process of law.
The bill will be tabled in Parliament in the upcoming second half of the budget session, finance minister Arun Jaitley said at a press briefing, expressing confidence that the bill will be passed by lawmakers at the earliest.
“We will try to make sure this is passed as expeditiously as possible. We can’t allow people to make a mockery of the law... that you first indulge in loot and then refuse to submit to the jurisdiction of the legal system. We have a very responsible Parliament,” Jaitley said.
The bill was initially envisaged in Budget 2017 to bring to task wilful defaulters such as Vijay Mallya, who left India in March 2016 and is yet to return as there are ongoing cases of fraud and money laundering against him.
The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018 will be applicable for all offences where the monetary value exceeds Rs100 crore. It will bring under its ambit all individuals eluding the Indian legal process on the date of the enactment of the law, thereby ensuring that existing fugitives are covered.
A person will be declared a fugitive economic offender if he has committed an offence (specified in the bill) and an arrest warrant has been issued by a competent court but the person has left the country to escape prosecution.
The bill seeks to give powers to the government to provisionally attach property on the issuance of an arrest warrant to ensure that fugitives are not able to sell their assets pending due process of law.
The bill will be tabled in Parliament in the upcoming second half of the budget session, finance minister Arun Jaitley said at a press briefing, expressing confidence that the bill will be passed by lawmakers at the earliest.
“We will try to make sure this is passed as expeditiously as possible. We can’t allow people to make a mockery of the law... that you first indulge in loot and then refuse to submit to the jurisdiction of the legal system. We have a very responsible Parliament,” Jaitley said.
The bill was initially envisaged in Budget 2017 to bring to task wilful defaulters such as Vijay Mallya, who left India in March 2016 and is yet to return as there are ongoing cases of fraud and money laundering against him.
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