Govt to bring a Bill to crackdown Economic offenders

New Delhi Feb 26: In a Move to ensure that bank scams don't occur in future and easy to crackdown the fugitive offenders who leave the country the government is planning to introduce a bill in the upcoming session of parliament which ensures that the government to confiscate the properties of the offenders.

The government had already approved the draft and asked the public to respond the bill. According to the draft bill "fugitive economic offender means any individual against whom a warrant for arrest in relation to an economic offense has been issued and the person has left the country and refuses to return to India to face criminal prosecution ."

The Finance Ministry has said that "It is widely felt that the spectre of high-value economic offenders absconding from India to defy the legal process seriously undermines the rule of law in India."

"It was felt necessary to provide "an effective, expeditious and constitutionally permissible deterrent to ensure that such actions are curbed."

The Ministry has added that "The confiscation order of the Special Court will, to the extent possible, identify the property that constitutes proceeds of crime which are to be confiscated and in case such properties cannot be identified, quantify the value of the proceeds of crime".