G20 Summit: India pitches for 9-point action plan to deal with fugitive financial offenders

India has pitched a nine-point action plan for a strong and active cooperation across the G-20 countries to deal strictly with fugitive economic offenders and facilitate asset recovery.

PM Modi is currently in Argentina to attend the eighth edition of G20 Summit. (Image: Narendra Modi/ Twitter)

G20 Summit 2018: India has pitched a nine-point action plan for a strong and active cooperation across the G-20 countries to deal strictly with fugitive economic offenders and facilitate asset recovery. India also proposed strong legal processes for effective freezing of proceeds of crime and early return of offenders. “There was a need for a joint effort by member countries to form a mechanism that denies entry and safe havens to all fugitive economic offenders,” news agency IANS quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi as saying at the second session of the G-20 Summit on Friday. PM Modi is currently in Argentina to attend the eighth edition of G20 Summit. He also suggested that the G-20 forum should consider initiating work on locating properties of economic offenders who have tax debt in the country of their residence for its recovery. “Cooperation in the legal processes such as effective freezing of the proceeds of crime, early return of the offenders and efficient repatriation of the proceeds of crime should be enhanced and streamlined,” he said. PM Modi further added that the principles of UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (UNOTC), especially related to international cooperation, should be fully and effectively implemented. According to PM Modi, there is a need to call upon a Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in order to assign priority and focus to establishing international cooperation that leads to a timely and comprehensive exchange of information between competent authorities and Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs). In his nine point agenda, PM Modi said FATF should be tasked to formulate a standard definition of fugitive economic offenders. “Common platform should be set up for sharing experiences and best practices including successful cases of extradition, gaps in existing systems of extradition and legal assistance,” the Prime Minister said. India believes that the FATF should also develop a set of commonly agreed and standardised procedures related to identification, extradition and judicial proceedings for dealing with such offenders to guide and assist G-20 countries, subject to their domestic law.