The government of Vanuatu has decided to cancel the passport issued to Indian Premier League (IPL) founder Lalit Modi, stating that attempts to evade extradition do not constitute a legitimate reason for obtaining citizenship.
Vanuatu Prime Minister Jotham Napat has instructed the country’s Citizenship Commission to revoke Modi’s passport “following recent revelations in international media”, according to an official statement.
“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,” Prime Minister Napat stated.
He emphasised that holding a Vanuatu passport is a privilege and not a right, with applicants required to seek citizenship for legitimate purposes. “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.
The statement highlighted that Vanuatu has strengthened the due diligence aspects of its citizenship by investment programme over the past four years. The improvements include triple-agency checks, such as Interpol verification, conducted by the Vanuatu Financial Intelligence Unit. This process has led to an increase in applications failing the enhanced scrutiny.
Meanwhile, India’s Ministry of External Affairs has confirmed that Lalit Modi has applied to surrender his Indian passport. “He has made an application for surrendering his passport in the high commission of India, London,” said External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.
“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.
Modi left India in 2010 and is wanted for alleged financial irregularities, including accusations of embezzling large sums during his tenure as IPL commissioner.
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