{"id":16570,"date":"2018-03-03T16:22:27","date_gmt":"2018-03-03T10:52:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=16570"},"modified":"2018-03-03T16:22:27","modified_gmt":"2018-03-03T10:52:27","slug":"fugitive-economic-offenders-bill-2017-all-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/fugitive-economic-offenders-bill-2017-all-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2017: all you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><u>Context:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>After the Nirav Modi\u2013PNB fraud worth more than \u20b912,000 crore, the Union Cabinet has approved the <strong>Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2017.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Background:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>2017:<\/strong> The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill 2017 was first mentioned by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech in 2017-18.<\/li>\n<li>It came against the backdrop of <strong>bringing back Vijay Mallya, who owes over Rs 9,000 crore in the Kingfisher Airlines fraud case.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Who is a \u2018fugitive economic offender\u2019?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>According to Section 4 of the law, a \u2018fugitive economic offender\u2019 is \u201cany individual against whom a warrant for arrest in relation to a scheduled offence has been issued by any court in India, who:<\/li>\n<li>leaves or has left India so as to avoid criminal prosecution; or<\/li>\n<li>refuses to return to India to face criminal prosecution.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>What are the reasons for which the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2017 has been introduced?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The reasons for which the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2017 has been introduced are as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There have been several instances of economic offenders <strong>fleeing the jurisdiction of Indian courts, anticipating the commencement, or during the pendency, of criminal proceedings.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The absence of such offenders from Indian courts has <strong>several harmful consequences<\/strong> such as :<\/li>\n<li>it hampers investigation in criminal cases,<\/li>\n<li>it wastes precious time of courts of law, third, it undermines the rule of law in India, and<\/li>\n<li>most such cases of economic offences involve non-repayment of bank loans thereby worsening the financial health of the banking sector in India.<\/li>\n<li>The existing civil and criminal provisions in law are <strong>not entirely adequate to deal with the severity of the problem. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It is, therefore, felt necessary to provide an <strong>effective, expeditious and constitutionally permissible deterrent to ensure that such actions are curbed.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Thus, a Budget announcement was made by the Government in the Budget 2017-18 that the Government was considering to introduce <strong>legislative changes or even a new law to confiscate the assets of such absconders till they submit to the jurisdiction of the appropriate legal forum.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>(Note: Important for prelims):<\/strong> It may be mentioned that the <strong>non-conviction-based asset confiscation for corruption-related cases<\/strong> is enabled under provisions of <strong>United Nations Convention against Corruption (ratified by India in 2011).<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2017<strong> adopts this principle.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>What are the aims and objectives of Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2017?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The aims and objectives of Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2017 are as follows:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Aim:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Bill aims to stop <strong>economic offenders who leave the country to avoid due process<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Economic offences are those that are defined under <strong>the Indian Penal Code, the Prevention of Corruption Act, the SEBI Act, the Customs Act, the Companies Act, Limited Liability Partnership Act, and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>(Note: Important for prelims):<\/strong> Offences involving <strong>amounts of <\/strong><strong>\u20b9<\/strong><strong>100 crore or more<\/strong> fall under the purview of this law<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Objectives of the Bill:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Bill is expected to re-establish the rule of law with respect to the <strong>fugitive economic offenders as they would be forced to return to India to face trial for scheduled offences. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>This would also help the banks and other financial institutions to <strong>achieve higher recovery from financial defaults committed by such fugitive economic offenders, improving the financial health of such institutions.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It is expected that the special forum to be created for<br \/>\nexpeditious confiscation of the proceeds of crime, in India or abroad, would <strong>force the fugitive to return to India to submit to the jurisdiction of Courts in India to face the law in respect of scheduled offences.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>What are the salient features of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2017?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The salient features of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2017 are as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Bill primarily <strong>empowers the government and investigating agencies<\/strong> to confiscate property and assets of economic offenders and defaulters who flee India.<\/li>\n<li>It covers a wide range of offences, including <strong>wilful loan defaults, cheating and forgery, forged or fraudulent document of electronic records, duty evasion, non-repayment of deposits and others.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The Bill also proposes setting up of a <strong>&#8220;Special Court&#8221;<\/strong> under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, which will declare a person a <strong>&#8220;fugitive economic offender&#8221;.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>What are the legal procedures through which the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2017 will be implemented?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The legal procedures through which the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2017 will be implemented are as follows:<\/p>\n<p><strong>How a person is declared an offender?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A Director, appointed by the central government, will have to file an application to a Special Court to declare a person as a \u2018fugitive economic offender\u2019. Under Clause (2) of Section 6, the application must contain:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Reason\/s for the belief that an individual is a fugitive economic offender;<\/li>\n<li>Any information available as to the whereabouts of the fugitive economic offender;<\/li>\n<li>A list of properties or the value of such properties believed to be the proceeds of crime, including any such property outside India for which confiscation is sought;<\/li>\n<li>A list of properties owned by the person in India for which confiscation is sought;<\/li>\n<li>A list of persons who may have an interest in any of the properties listed under sub-clauses (c) and (d).\u201d<\/li>\n<li><strong>(Note: Important for prelims):<\/strong> The Director has the power to attach any property the accused holds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What does the offender has to do?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Court will issue a notice to the person named a \u2018fugitive economic offender\u2019.<\/li>\n<li>Within six weeks from the date of notice, the person will have to present themselves at \u201ca specified place at a specified time\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>If the offender fails to do so, they will be declared a \u2018fugitive economic offender\u2019 and their properties as listed in the Director\u2019s application will be confiscated.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Once property is confiscated, can the offender file a civil claim?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>No, once property is confiscated, the offender cannot file a civil claim.<\/li>\n<li>Section 11 of the Act disqualifies those declared as offenders from either filing or defending a civil claim in court.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What happens to the confiscated properties of the offender?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Special court will appoint an <strong>\u2018administrator\u2019<\/strong> to oversee the confiscated property.<\/li>\n<li>This person will be responsible for <strong>disposing of the property as well, and the property will be used to satisfy creditors\u2019 claims.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Are there any existing laws under which economic offenders are tried?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yes there any existing laws under which economic offenders are tried.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The existing laws under which economic offenders are tried include <strong>Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002, (Sarfaesi), Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993, and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The current law framework allows the <strong>Enforcement Directorate<\/strong> to seize the property and assets of an accused as per the rules under the <strong>Prevention of Money Laundering Act.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>But the existing laws <strong>do not allow complete &#8220;non-conviction&#8221;<\/strong> based asset attachment without any encumbrances.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Conclusion:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2017 sounds promising enough to bring transparency and justice for cases like PNB fraud accused Nirav Modi or Kingfisher Airlines fraud accused Vijay Mallya.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context: After the Nirav Modi\u2013PNB fraud worth more than \u20b912,000 crore, the Union Cabinet has approved the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2017. Background: 2017: The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill 2017 was first mentioned by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech in 2017-18. It came against the backdrop of bringing back Vijay Mallya, who&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/fugitive-economic-offenders-bill-2017-all-you-need-to-know\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2017: all you need to know<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":16571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-editorials","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Untitled.jpg?fit=1005%2C540&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704772725},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}