Vanuatu Prime Minister Jotham Napat has directed the Citizenship Commission to revoke the passport of Indian Premier League (IPL) founder Lalit Modi, following Interpol’s rejection of India’s request for an alert due to lack of sufficient evidence.
“I have instructed the Citizenship Commission to immediately begin proceedings to cancel Mr. Modi’s Vanuatu passport,” Napat said in a statement.
He stated that although background checks revealed no criminal convictions, he was recently informed that Interpol had denied India’s request for an alert on Lalit Modi due to insufficient evidence, which would have resulted in the rejection of his citizenship application.
“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.
He emphasized that obtaining a Vanuatu passport is a privilege, not a right, and applicants must present valid reasons for seeking citizenship.
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“None of those legitimate reasons include attempting to avoid extradition, which the recent facts brought to light clearly indicate was Mr. Modi’s intention,” Napat added.
Prime Minister Napat stated that in recent years, the Vanuatu government has strengthened the due diligence process for its citizenship-by-investment program, leading to an increase in applications failing the enhanced scrutiny conducted by the Vanuatu Financial Intelligence Unit.
The revised process involves triple-agency checks, including verification through Interpol, according to the statement.
Vanuatu is an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean, consisting of an archipelago of 83 islands, 65 of which are inhabited.
Situated east of Australia and north of New Zealand, Vanuatu lies approximately midway between Australia and Fiji. Its capital and largest city, Port Vila, is located on Efate Island.
The national language of Vanuatu is Bislama, a Creole language, while English and French are also recognized as official languages.
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