The Fugitive Economic Offenders act aimed at preventing culprits from evading the legal process and fleeing the country was passed by the Lok Sabha in 2018.
Key Highlights
The Act empowers special courts to direct the Central government to confiscate all the assets belonging to a fugitive economic offender, including those assets that are proceeds of the crime and that do not belong to the offender.
Definition: A ‘Fugitive Economic Offender’ is a person against whom an arrest warrant has been issued in respect of a scheduled offence and who has left India so as to avoid criminal prosecution, or being abroad, refuses to return to India to face criminal prosecution.
Vijay Malya was declared first Fugitive economic offender under this act.
