The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill explained
New Delhi, July 26: The Parliament on Wednesday passed a bill that seeks to prevent big economic offenders like Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi from fleeing the country and evading the legal process.
The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018 was passed by the Rajya Sabha with a voice vote. The Lok Sabha had cleared the measure on July 19.
Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said instances of people running away and evading legal process was increasing, which needed to be stopped as the current laws do not allow dealing with the "severity of the problem".
"Criminal law does not allow us to impound their property," he added.
"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 the courts. We will also work out what has to be done with the confiscated assets," Goyal said.
While replying to the debate, he said there cannot be a situation where economic offenders run away from the country and also protect their properties.
Justifying
the
financial
limit
of
Rs
100
crore
for
invoking
the
provision
of
this
new
law,
Goyal
said
it
was
being
done
to
catch
the
big
offenders
and
not
to
clog
the
courts.
The
Enforcement
Directorate
will
be
the
investigative
agency
under
the
Act,
he
added.
Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill:
The Bill is primarily aimed at stopping economic offenders who leave the country to avoid legal process. Offences involving amounts of Rs 100 crore and above fall under the purview of this law. These offences are those defined under the Indian Penal Code, SEBI Act, Customs Act, Companies Act, Prevention of Corruption Act, Limited Liability Partnership Act, and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
Definition of a fugitive economic offender:
Section
4
of
the
law,
states
that
a
'fugitive
economic
offender' is
"any
individual
against
whom
a
warrant
for
arrest
in
relation
to
a
scheduled
offence
has
been
issued
by
any
court
in
India,
who:
(i)
leaves
or
has
left
India
so
as
to
avoid
criminal
prosecution;
or
(ii)
refuses
to
return
to
India
to
face
criminal
prosecution."
How is a person declared an economic offender:
The Central government through a director appointed by it will have to file an application before a special court to declare a person as fugitive economic offender. Once the following conditions are fulfilled the director has the right to seize or attach the properties of the offender.
Under Clause (2) of Section 6, the application must contain the following:
(a)
reason/s
for
the
belief
that
an
individual
is
a
fugitive
economic
offender;
(b)
any
information
available
as
to
the
whereabouts
of
the
fugitive
economic
offender;
(c)
a
list
of
properties
or
the
value
of
such
properties
believed
to
be
the
proceeds
of
crime,
including
any
such
property
outside
India
for
which
confiscation
is
sought;
(d)
a
list
of
properties
owned
by
the
person
in
India
for
which
confiscation
is
sought;
(e)
a
list
of
persons
who
may
have
an
interest
in
any
of
the
properties
listed
under
sub-clauses
(c)
and
(d)."
The process:
Once an application is moved, the court would issue notice to the person concerned. The accused would have to present himself before the court within six weeks of the notice being issued. In case he or she fails to be present, the court would declare the person a fugitive economic offender, following which the properties as listed would be confiscated.
Under Section 11, the person declared a fugitive economic offender loses the right to file a civil claim in court.
Confiscating properties:
The court would then appoint an administrator to oversee the confiscated property. The administrator would be responsible for disposing off the property, following which the amount would be used to satisfy a creditor's claim.