Vanuatu PM Jotham Napat Orders Cancellation Of Modi’s Passport

Vanuatu, Mar 10: Prime Minister Jotham Napat has directed the Citizenship Commission to cancel the Vanuatu passport issued to Lalit Modi following recent revelations in international media.

“I have instructed the Citizenship Commission to immediately begin proceedings to cancel Modi’s Vanuatu passport,” the PM informed.

“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:” said Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister emphasised that holding a Vanuatu passport is a privilege, not a right: and applicants must seek citizenship for legitimate reasons.

“None of those legitimate reasons include attempting to avoid extradition: which the recent facts brought to light clearly indicate was Mr Modi’s intension,” said the Prime Minister.

The Government of Vanuatu has significantly strengthened the due diligence aspect of its Citizenship by Investment Programme over the past four years: resulting in a marked increase in applications failing the enhanced scrutiny undertaken by the Vanuatu Financial Intelligence Unit. The improved process implemented several years ago includes triple-agency checks, including Interpol verification.