The Ministry of Finance, on Tuesday, appointed officers to carry out search and seizure under the newly pronounced Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance.
As per a Notification issued by the Government on 24th April, officers not below the rank of Assistant Directors in the Directorate of Enforcement are authorized to exercise the power to search any person and to seize such record or property which may be useful for or relevant to proceedings under the said Ordinance.
In a separate notification, the Central Government also appointed the Special Directors of Enforcement of the Regional Offices of the Directorate of Enforcement to perform the functions of an Administrator.
The Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance, pronounced by the President a few days ago, allows the Government to confiscate properties and assets of loan defaulters who flee the country.
The ordinance seeks to confiscate properties of economic offenders like diamond merchant Nirav Modi, who have left the country to avoid facing criminal prosecution.
The Ordinance is expected to re-establish the rule of law with respect to the fugitive economic offenders as they would be forced to return to India to face trial for scheduled offenses. This would also help the banks and other financial institutions to achieve higher recovery from financial defaults committed by such fugitive economic offenders, improving the financial health of such institutions. It is expected that the special forum to be created for the expeditious confiscation of the proceeds of crime, in India or abroad, would coerce the fugitive to return to India to submit to the jurisdiction of Courts in India to face the law in respect of scheduled offenses.
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