Days after Lalit Modi, the former founder of the Indian Premier League (IPL), submitted a request to the Indian High Commission in London to relinquish his Indian passport, Vanuatu Prime Minister Jotham Napat ordered the Citizenship Commission on Monday to revoke the passport granted to Modi, stating that the fugitive was trying to evade extradition.
The progress comes after recent disclosures in global media indicating that the ex-IPL leader is sought by Indian authorities related to his supposed role in the misappropriation of crores of rupees while he was the head of the IPL.
A formal statement from the Republic of Vanuatu declared, “I have directed the Citizenship Commission to revoke the Vanuatu passport granted to Mr. Lalit Modi after recent disclosures in global media.”
“I have been made aware in the past 24 hours that Interpol twice rejected Indian authorities’ requests to issue an alert notice on Mr Lalit Modi due to lack of substantive judicial evidence. Any such alert would have triggered an automatic rejection of Mr Modi’s citizenship application,” it read.
The release also stated that the “Prime Minister emphasised that holding a Vanuatu passport is a privilege, not a right, and applicants must seek citizenship for legitimate reasons.”
Lalit Modi, once the vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), faces allegations of bid-rigging, money laundering, and breaching the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA).
He departed from India in 2010 while being investigated for purported financial wrongdoing, which included unauthorized money transfers.
