Vanuatu PM cancels passport of former IPL cricket chief
The Vanuatu Prime Minister ordered the cancellation of the passport issued by the island state to fugitive Indian businessman Lalit Modi, who was wanted by Delhi in a corruption case.
The order came three days after India confirmed that Mr. Modi had obtained nationality in Vanuatu, a citizenship of more than 80 islands in the Pacific.
Mr Modi, a former head of the Indian Premier League (IPL), was wanted for suspected rigging bids during his tenure as head of the world’s wealthiest cricket championship.
Mr. Modi, who has lived in the UK since 2010, has denied the allegations.
India made several unsuccessful attempts to extradite him.
On Friday, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal told reporters that Mr Modi applied for his Indian passport to surrender in London.
“We can also understand that he has obtained citizenship in Vanuatu. We continue to file lawsuits against him as required by law,” Jasval said.
The news that Mr Modi became a Vanuatu citizen made headlines in India, he was once a charming, cash-rich IPL tournament face. He is a regular presence of social scenes, hiking with Bollywood stars and Indian elites.
But on Monday, Vanuatu Prime Minister Jotham Napat announced that his country had decided to cancel Mr. Modi’s citizenship.
Napat said the Vanuatu passport is a “privilege” and that “an applicant must seek citizenship for legitimate reasons.”
“None of these legal reasons include attempts to avoid extradition, and the facts recently raised clearly indicate that it was Mr. Modi’s intention,” the media release said.
He said background checks and Interpol screenings conducted during Mr. Modi’s passport application did not indicate criminal convictions.
However, he added that within the past 24 hours, he realized that Interpol had twice rejected India’s request for an alert notification to Mr. Modi, citing a lack of “substantive judicial evidence”.
“Any such alert would trigger an automatic rejection of Mr. Modi’s citizen application,” the release added.
The move could bring relief to Indian authorities. Unlike the UK, Vanuatu has no extradition treaty with India.
Extradition treaties allow the repatriation of people accused of committing crimes between states.
A day ago, Mr. Modi was postal On X (formerly Twitter), no court in India has targeted him, and accused the media of peddling “fake news” about him.
Mr. Modi played a major role in the founding of IPL in 2008, which is now a multi-billion dollar industry.
The main allegations against Mr. Modi are related to bidding during the 2010 auction of the two team franchises. He has also been charged with unauthorized sale of broadcast and internet rights.
2013, Cricket Control Council of India (BCCI) Ban Mr. Modi’s Any activity involved in cricket.
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