Vanuatu Prime Minister Jotham Napat has directed the Citizenship Commission to revoke fugitive businessman and former cricket administrator, Lalit Modi’s passport following the rejection of an 'Interpol alert' requested by Indian authorities due to insufficient evidence.
In a statement issued on Monday, Napat asserted that possessing a Vanuatu passport was a privilege, not a right, and that applicants must provide legitimate reasons for seeking citizenship.
He maintained that recent developments had made it evident that Modi’s intention was to evade extradition.
“I have instructed the Citizenship Commission to immediately begin proceedings to cancel Mr Modi's Vanuatu passport,” Napat declared.
The former Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman and commissioner had secured Vanuatu citizenship through the country’s investment programme.
However, Napat disclosed that while initial background checks, including Interpol screenings, had revealed no criminal convictions, he had been informed within the last 24 hours that Interpol had twice rejected India’s requests for an alert notice against Modi due to the absence of substantive judicial evidence.
Such an alert, he noted, would have led to the automatic rejection of Modi’s citizenship application.
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“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,” the statement issued by PM Napat reads.
The Vanuatu government, Napat stressed, has significantly reinforced its due diligence process in recent years to scrutinise applications for its citizenship-by-investment scheme.
This has resulted in an increasing number of applications failing the enhanced verification procedures carried out by the Vanuatu Financial Intelligence Unit.
“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.
Under the updated process, citizenship applications undergo triple-agency scrutiny, including Interpol verification, to ensure compliance with international legal and security standards.
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