India’s most wanted men are not in India. They have managed to flee India, in many cases with remarkable foresight; just in time to avoid arrest. Vijay Mallya is the most famous of them all, of course, an Indian loan defaulter and fugitive who fled India five years ago. Nirav Modi is another famous fugitive – the jeweller to India’s rich and famous. But there are more. So what is the status of these high profile fraudsters?
Mehul Choksi is the uncle and business associate of Nirav Modi and he was recently arrested in Dominica. The diamantaire had escaped from India in January 2018 just days before the PNB scam broke. He had fled to the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda. He was arrested in May and then was presented in court after his lawyer filed a Habeas Corpus petition. The court has stayed Choksi’s extradition for the time being. Choksi applied for and got Antiguan citizenship in 2017 however his arrest being made in Dominica and the charge that he was trying to escape to Cuba could weigh against him.
The cases of Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya are similar in that Indian agencies have managed to succeed in their extradition applications against these two fugitives. However, there are still legal proceedings pending before UK courts and neither has been brought back to India yet. While Modi has an appeal pending, Mallya has not been repatriated because of an unspecified "confidential legal matter". Meanwhile, Nirav Modi is in prison in the UK and many of Mallya assets have been acquired or auctioned off to repay what he owes financial institutions.
Lalit Modi was the brains behind the IPL but things went sour between him and the BCCI. In May 2010 he fled from India, just before the Enforcement Directorate was to file charges against him. In October that year, the BCCI registered a complaint against Modi for illegally taking Rs 753 crore from the cricket board. The issue of extraditing Lalit Modi to India was only raised in 2018 and right now he continues to live in London.
The stories of Nitin Sandesara, his brother Chetan and wife Dipti and brother-in-law Hitesh Patel are less well known. However, they are also wanted for financial fraud. Sandesara, and co. are implicated in a Rs 15,600 crore bank fraud. Currently known to be in Nigeria, they have not been extradited.
Jatin Mehta is another diamond merchant who owes a bank consortium Rs. 6,500 crores. He fled to St Kitts and Nevis in 2013 and is not extradited. Umesh Parekh, Kamlesh Parekh and Nilesh Parekh are also under CBI investigations for a 2,600 crore bank fraud. They are known to be in the UAE and Kenya. There are many other willful defaulters that have absconded from India, owing thousands of crores of public money debt. Others accused of financial fraud include Ritesh Jain, Rajiv and Alka Goyal, Ashish Jobanputra, Sabhya Seth and Sanjay Bhandari.
Why do so many Indian businesspeople find it so easy to defraud banks; particularly public sector banks? Obscenely large amounts of money are leant, often with negligible security. Often corrupt bank employees are seen to be involved along with other innocent lower-level employees who may simply be following instructions; unaware of the fraud they may unknowingly be perpetuating. Many fraudsters are seen to be living lavish lifestyles while claiming to be unable to repay loans. When prosecution or investigation seems inevitable, defaulters miraculously manage to leave the country just in time. In cases, criminal or ED proceedings have started mere days after they have fled the country.
As of now, none of the offenders named above has been brought back to India to face justice. Extradition proceedings are either pending or not even initiated against them. It seems obvious that the clout and money that these individuals possess enables them to evade justice. They seem to escape just in time and manage to find havens in countries without extradition treaties with India. This seems to happen no matter who is in power at the centre. Governments – strong and weak seem unable – or not fully willing – to bring them back. Is it because frauds on this massive scale could only have occurred with some political patronage at some level?
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