Fresh trouble has emerged for IPL founder Lalit Modi as the Vanuatu government moves to revoke his passport. Authorities in the Pacific island nation stated that seeking citizenship to evade extradition does not constitute a valid reason for naturalization. Modi, who is wanted in India over alleged financial irregularities, had earlier applied to surrender his Indian passport at the High Commission in London.
Vanuatu Prime Minister Jotham Napat directed the Citizenship Commission to cancel Modi’s passport after “recent revelations in international media.” His office clarified that while initial background checks, including Interpol screenings, showed no convictions, new details have come to light.
“While all standard background checks, including Interpol screenings, conducted during his application showed no criminal convictions, 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,” said Prime Minister Napat.
He emphasized that Vanuatu citizenship is a privilege, not a right, and applicants must have legitimate reasons for seeking it.
“None of those legitimate reasons include attempting to avoid extradition, which the recent facts brought to light clearly indicate was Mr Modi’s intention,” he added.
According to the statement, Vanuatu has strengthened the due diligence process of its citizenship-by-investment program over the past four years. The Prime Minister’s office highlighted that this has resulted in more applications being rejected under enhanced scrutiny by the Vanuatu Financial Intelligence Unit. The revised system includes multiple-agency checks and Interpol verification.
Meanwhile, India’s Ministry of External Affairs confirmed that Lalit Modi has applied to surrender his passport. “He has made an application for surrendering his passport in the high commission of India, London,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated. “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.
Lalit Modi fled India in 2010 and faces allegations of misappropriating funds during his tenure as IPL commissioner.
