Vanuatu PM orders cancellation of Lalit Modi's passport after media revelations
Port Vila: Vanuatu Prime Minister Jotham Napat has ordered the cancellation of the Vanuatu passport issued to former Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Lalit Modi. The directive came on Monday, two days after Modi surrendered his Indian passport to acquire Vanuatu citizenship.
According to an official statement, Napat instructed the Citizenship Commission to revoke Modi’s passport following recent international media reports.
"While all standard background checks, including Interpol screenings, showed no criminal convictions at the time of his application, 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 led to an automatic rejection of his citizenship application," the statement read.
Napat stressed that holding a Vanuatu passport is a privilege, not a right, and that citizenship must be sought for legitimate reasons. "None of those legitimate reasons include attempting to avoid extradition, which the recent facts clearly indicate was Mr Modi’s intention," he added.
Indian authorities continue pursuing case against Modi
On Friday, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed that Modi had applied to surrender his Indian passport at the Indian High Commission in London.
"Lalit Modi has made an application for surrendering his passport in the High Commission of India, London. The same will be examined in light of extant rules and procedures. We are also given to understand that he has acquired citizenship of Vanuatu. We continue to pursue the case against him as required under law," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
Modi is wanted by Indian law enforcement agencies over allegations of financial irregularities amounting to crores of rupees during his tenure as IPL chairman.
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Dr Boby Chemmanur felicitated at Vidhana Soudha by Speaker UT Khader for world record run
Bengaluru: Dr Boby Chemmanur was felicitated by Karnataka Legislative Assembly Speaker U.T. Khader Fareed at a special function held at Vidhana Soudha.
Dr Chemmanur, popularly known as “BoChe”, was honoured for successfully completing an 812-kilometre run aimed at spreading the message of world peace. The achievement earned him recognition in the Unique World Records and the Guinness World Records.
Dr Chemmanur has also received several prestigious awards and honours, including the Mother Teresa Award, for his contributions to social service.
Speaker U.T. Khader also spoke about Dr Chemmanur’s achievement in the Legislative Assembly and congratulated him for the accomplishment.
Deputy Speaker Rudrappa Lamani, Agriculture Minister Cheluvarayaswamy and MLA and Chief Minister’s legal advisor Ponnanna were present on the occasion.
