India to G20: Speed up extradition of fugitives

Giving a clarion call at the G20 foreign ministers’ forum, India on Wednesday said the group must adopt multilateral action for faster extradition of fugitive economic offenders.
“Economic offences have been a problem faced by many, especially when the offenders flee from the jurisdiction of the country. India has put in place specialised legislation in this regard, in the form of Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018, the term wherein ‘fugitive economic offender’ (FEO) is defined as an individual against whom a warrant of arrest in relation to scheduled offence has been issued by any court in India and who has left the country so as to avoid criminal prosecution; or the FEO abroad, refuses to return to face,” said Union Minister of State Jitendra Singh while chairing the meeting of first anti-corruption working group meeting held here. “Strengthening of mechanisms for speedy confiscation of the proceeds of crime, both at home and abroad, will force the offenders to return to home country,” Singh added.
India hosted the first anti-corruption working group meeting under its G20 presidency here on Wednesday. MoS public grievance minister Jitendra Singh, who was addressing the delegates from G20, 10 guest countries and 13 global institutions, stressed the “highly complex” process of extradition and “delay in investigation” and trial for recovery of assets from foreign countries.
“There are diverse legal and procedural frameworks to deal with. However, there is a need for the global community to work faster for the recovery of assets through proactive sharing of information between the G20 countries,” the minister said.
India has a long list of economic offenders, including high-profile Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Sanjay Bhandari. When asked if the extradition cases of the high-profile economic offenders will be taken on a separate basis with the UK, Singh said the government has shown “utmost commitment and determination” post 2014 to bring back such fugitives. He said “talks will happen at all levels” with the UK on how certain gaps can be filled to expedite the extradition of such offenders. The first meeting of the G20 anti-corruption working group was held on 1 March, and will continue till 3 March. Two more meetings are scheduled to take place in the coming months in Rishikesh and Kolkata.