On Wednesday, the Rajya Sabha passed the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance, 2018. The amendment will allow the seizure of domestic assets of those whom a court rules to be fugitive economic offenders.
The lower house nodded to the amendment on 19th July and today the upper house gave a confirmation to the same. The bill proposed the establishment of a special court which will declare a person a fugitive economic offender. The proposal was made under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
Piyush Goyal, the Finance Minister of India firstly explained and cleared doubt related to the amendments in RS and expressed: “Instances of people running away and evading legal process is increasing and it can be stopped. Current laws do not allow us to deal with the severity of these problems. Criminal law does not allow us to impound their property.,”
He further emphasized the necessity of the bill and said that “This bill is an effective, expeditious and constitutional way to stop these offenders from running away. Legislative changes or a new law must be in place to confiscate assets of such absconders till they don’t present themselves in front of courts. We will also work out what has to be done with the confiscated assets,”
The Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance became the necessity of Indian constitution when fugitives like billionaire jeweler Nirav Modi and Liquor baron Vijay Mallya defraud Indian banks for over Rs 13,000 crore and Rs 9,000 crore respectively and fled away from the nation’s reach.