Vanuatu to Cancel Lalit Modi’s Passport Over Extradition Concerns

Vanuatu Prime Minister Jotham Napat has ordered the country’s Citizenship Commission to begin proceedings to cancel former Indian Premier League (IPL) founder Lalit Modi’s passport. This directive comes days after Modi applied to surrender his Indian passport at the High Commission in London.

Napat believes “holding a Vanuatu passport is a privilege, not a right,” and applicants must seek citizenship for legitimate reasons.

He says “none of those legitimate reasons include attempting to avoid extradition, which the recent facts brought to light clearly indicate was Mr. Modi’s intention.”

Modi, who transformed cricket’s commercial ecosystem by founding the IPL in 2008, fled India in 2010 while under investigation for alleged financial irregularities.

Indian authorities have accused him of bid-rigging, unauthorized fund transfers, and violations of foreign exchange regulations during his tenure as IPL commissioner, though he hasn’t faced trial as he fled the country when the investigations began.

The Vanuatu Prime Minister has acknowledged that standard background checks during Modi’s citizenship application showed no criminal convictions.

However, he had learned “within 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.” Napat noted that if Interpol had issued an alert, it “would have triggered an automatic rejection of Mr. Modi’s citizenship application.”

He also defended Vanuatu’s Citizenship by Investment Program’s (CIP) due diligence process, saying that the government had implemented an improved process “several years ago” that includes “triple-agency checks, including Interpol verification.”

Last week, India’s Ministry of External Affairs confirmed Modi had applied to surrender his Indian passport after acquiring Vanuatu citizenship.

Vanuatu lacks an extradition treaty with India, unlike the United Kingdom, where Modi has reportedly lived for the past 14 years.

Despite the absence of an Interpol notice, Indian authorities maintain their determination to pursue legal action against Modi.

The External Affairs Ministry plans to examine Modi’s passport surrender application “in light of extant rules and procedures” while India “continues to pursue the case against him as required under [the] law.”