Draft bill on fugitive economic offenders

• The law ministry has given its concurrence to a draft bill that will give powers to the government to confiscate property of economic offenders and defaulters who flee India, albeit with a new provision.
• A Fugitive Economic Offender is a person who has an arrest warrant issued in respect of a scheduled offence and who leaves or has left India so as to avoid criminal prosecution, or refuses to return to India to face criminal prosecution.

Highlights of the Bill:

• It seeks to deter economic offenders from evading the process of Indian law by fleeing the country.
• The proposed law will be applicable in cases where the value of offences is over Rs 100 crore.
• The bill proposes to allow the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the premier technical snoop wing under the finance ministry, to file an application for the declaration of fugitive economic offender for confiscation of their assets.
• The courts under PMLA would be entrusted with the responsibility to try the case.
• Also, the bill has provision for appointment of an administrator to dispose off the property to pay off the creditors. Besides, the provisions of the proposed law will override provisions of other existing laws.
• Also, the burden of proof for establishing that an individual is a fugitive economic offender will be on the authorities.

Analysis:

• There have been several instances of economic offenders fleeing the jurisdiction of Indian courts, anticipating the commencement, or during the pendency, of criminal proceedings.
• The absence of such offenders from Indian courts has several deleterious consequences— first, it hampers investigation in criminal cases; second, it wastes precious time of courts of law; third, it undermines the rule of law in India.

By: Vishal