Lok Sabha clears Fugitive Economic Offenders bill

The lower house of the Indian Parliament has passed the Fugitive Economic Offenders bill to contain the trend of seeking foreign asylums among the high profile economic offenders.

The new bill has replaced the ordinance promulgated by the President of India around three months ago.

The ordinance was originally announced on the wake of the rise in the trend of seeking foreign asylum among the high profile economic offenders.

While speaking in the parliament, a senior central minister has said that though the country has all necessary laws to deal with the economic offenders, all of them consume a good amount of time to sort out the issue. He has added that the new law would help to deal with economic offence cases in a timely manner.

Several opposition members have opposed the bill in the parliament, saying that the bill has failed to provide anything new to the existing framework used to deal with high profile economic offence cases.

Anyway, the new bill empowers special courts to direct the central government to confiscate all assets belonging to a fugitive economic offender. As per the new law, the court can even direct the central government to confiscate those assets that are proceeds of a crime and that do not belong to the offender.

Vignesh. S. G

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