Lalit Modi Passport Cancellation: Prime Minister of Vanuatu Jotham Napat Monday directed the Citizenship Commission to cancel the Vanuatu passport issued to former IPL chairman Lalit Modi, who has been described as an economic offender by Indian investigating agencies.
In a statement, Napat, said, “I have instructed the Citizenship Commission to immediately begin proceedings to cancel Mr Modi’s Vanuatu passport. I have been made aware in the past 24 hours that Interpol twice rejected Indian authorities’ requests to issue an alert notice on Mr Modi due to lack of substantive judicial evidence. Any such alert would have triggered an automatic rejection of Mr Modi’s citizenship application.”
“None of those legitimate reasons include attempting to avoid extradition, which the recent facts brought to light clearly indicate was Mr Modi’s intension,” the statement further added.
On Friday Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs said, “Lalit Modi has made an application for surrendering his passport in the High Commission of India, London. The same will be examined in light of extant rules and procedures.” “We are also given to understand that he has acquired citizenship of Vanuatu. We continue to pursue the case against him as required under law,” he added.
Modi, the former IPL chairman and its chief architect, has been under probe by various agencies in connection with forex violations and a Rs 425-crore TV rights deal for the 2009 IPL with World Sports Group.
After attending just one interrogation session with Income Tax and ED sleuths in Mumbai regarding matters related to forex violations, he fled to the UK in May 2010.
In 2008, Modi was the face behind IPL’s inception, a league that mixed glamour with T20 format of cricket, and a league that would become the behemoth that it is today in world sports. In 2009, when IPL had to be shifted to South Africa following general elections in India, Modi proved how the value of the product would hold big value even outside India.
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Shortly after the IPL 2010 final, Modi was suspended from BCCI after being accused of misconduct, indiscipline and financial irregularities in association with the two rigging bids over the two new franchises, Pune and Kochi. The BCCI launched an investigation against him, and banned him for life in 2013 after a committee found him guilty of these charges.
Vanuatu, a string of more than 80 islands in the southern Pacific Ocean, has a population of about 3 lakh people.
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