DO YOU KNOW ABOUT FUGITIVE ECONOMIC OFFENDERS BILL, 2018?
DO YOU KNOW ABOUT FUGITIVE ECONOMIC OFFENDERS BILL, 2018?
Dear Bankersdaily Aspirants,
Today we are going to explain you about The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018.
Definition
The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018 was introduced in Lok Sabha on March 12, 2018. It seeks to confiscate properties of economic offenders who have left the country to avoid facing criminal prosecution. It extends to the whole of India.
What is the Bill?
The Bill aims to stop economic offenders who leave the country to avoid due process. Offences involving amounts of ₹100 crore or more fall under the purview of this law.
A fugitive economic offender has been defined as a person against whom an arrest warrant has been issued for committing any offence (listed in the schedule).
Further the person has:
(i) left the country to avoid facing prosecution, or
(ii) refuses to return to face prosecution.
(i)“person” includes—
(i) an individual;
(ii) a Hindu Undivided Family;
(iii) a company;
(iv) a trust;
(v) a partnership;
(vi) a limited liability partnership;
(vii) an association of persons or a body of individuals, whether incorporated or not;
Some of the offences listed in the schedule are:
- counterfeiting government stamps or currency,
- cheque dishonor for insufficiency of funds,
- money laundering,
- Transactions defrauding creditors.
The Bill allows the central government to amend the schedule through a notification.
How a person is declared an offender?
A Director, appointed by the central government, will have to file an application to a Special Court to declare a person as a ‘fugitive economic offender’.
Under Clause (2) of Section 6, the application must contain:
“(a) reason/s for the belief that an individual is a fugitive economic offender;
(b) any information available as to the whereabouts of the fugitive economic offender;
(c) 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;
(d) a list of properties owned by the person in India for which confiscation is sought;
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Finance to introduce the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018 in Parliament. The Bill would help in laying down measures to deter economic offenders from evading the process of Indian law by remaining outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts.
Impact:
The Bill is expected to re-establish the rule of law with respect to the fugitive economic offenders as they would be forced to return to India to face trial for scheduled offences. This would also help the banks and other financial institutions to achieve higher recovery from financial defaults committed by such fugitive economic offenders, improving the financial health of such institutions.
It is expected that the special forum to be created for expeditious confiscation of the proceeds of crime, in India or abroad, would coerce the fugitive to return to India to submit to the jurisdiction of Courts in India to face the law in respect of scheduled offences.
Salient features of the Bill:
- Application before the Special Court for a declaration that an individual is a fugitive economic offender;
- Attachment of the property of a fugitive economic offender;
- Issue of a notice by the Special Court to the individual alleged to be a fugitive economic offender;
- Confiscation of the property of an individual declared as a fugitive economic offender resulting from the proceeds of crime;
- Confiscation of other property belonging to such offender in India and abroad, including benami property;
- Disentitlement of the fugitive economic offender from defending any civil claim;
Implementation strategy and targets:
In order to address the lacunae in the present laws and lay down measures to deter economic offenders from evading the process of Indian law by remaining outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts, the Bill is being proposed. The Bill makes provisions for a Court (‘Special Court’ under the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002) to declare a person as a Fugitive Economic Offender. A scheduled offence refers to a list of economic offences contained in the Schedule to this Bill. Further, in order to ensure that Courts are not over-burdened with such cases, only those cases where the total value involved in such offences is 100 crore rupees or more, is within the purview of this Bill.
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