One by one the fugitives from the criminal law are getting caught. The Indian Government has reason to be happy that its relentless efforts to bring to book the fraudsters who fled the country after defaulting on huge bank loans are bearing fruit. Of course, the judicial process to organise their extradition is painfully long but once in the net these crooks cannot escape. First, Vijay Mallaya was pursued vigorously in the UK.
His dogged effort to deflect the legal process finally ended with the London courts ordering extradition for defaulting on the payment of nearly Rupees ten thousand crores to various banks. His deportation to India now awaits his last and final appeal before he exhausts all avenues of legal relief. No less surprising was the way another fugitive landed in the police net in London.
The previous week, a popular London daily had caught him on a city street, sporting handlebar moustache and wearing an expensive jacket. This was the first time that anyone got to know the whereabouts of the notorious diamantaire who owes the Punjab National Bank Rs 13,000 crores. He was in London, living in a GBP three-million mansion. The Enforcement Directorate and the CBI in coordination rushed a team to organise his arrest.
Modi was arrested at a bank branch where he had gone to open an account. His bail plea was rejected by the district judge because of ‘the high value amount’ at stake and ‘substantial grounds’ that he would fail to surrender before the court if let out on bail. Modi offered several assurances, including a GBP 500,000 surety but to no avail. He also pleaded that his passport having been revoked by India, he had no documents to travel.
He also held residency permits for the UAE, Singapore and Hong Kong. The prosecution forcefully opposed his bail, arguing his involvement in a conspiracy to defraud and to hide here in London. Meanwhile, a Mumbai court on Wednesday issued a non-bailable warrant against Modi’s wife Ami on the ED plea that she, too, was involved in money-laundering in the PNB fraud case. In several other ways, the screws are being tightened against Modi.
His properties in India have been attached, with his plush and largely illegal bungalow in Alibaug, Maharasthra, has been demolished. His expensive art collection is due to be auctioned and the proceeds earmarked for the payment of income tax arrears. And he himself is in London prison, facing the prospect of being jailed in Mumbai once the extradition proceedings are over.
In short, the Government has shown extraordinary zeal in pursuing economic offenders who have defrauded banks of tens of thousands of crores whether they are resident in India or have fled these shores to avoid repayment of their debts. Under the bankruptcy proceedings against defaulters, the banks have already recovered nearly half of the bad loans through the IBC process.
Notably, a vast percentage of the loans which turned duds were disbursed during the UPA government, including those to Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallaya. Only after the enactment of the Banking Code in 2015 did the recovery process took off in right earnest. Now it seems the fraudsters have nowhere to hide. The Modi Sarkar has gone after them with a rare vengeance never seen before in this country.