Bringing back economic fugitives 'high priority': India to UK

Bringing back economic fugitives to face justice was a "high priority" for the government, India conveyed to the UK on Friday as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson indicated that he was "very sensitive" to these concerns and said Britain doesn’t welcome people who want to use its legal system to evade the Indian laws.

India has been pressing the United Kingdom to extradite Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi to face trial in India for their alleged involvement in cases relating to financial fraud.

After his comprehensive talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Johnson at a media interaction said the UK government has ordered their extradition and there are some legal technicalities that have made it very difficult.

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"We don’t welcome people who want to use our legal system to evade the law here in India," the British Prime Minister asserted.

Briefing reporters on the wide-ranging talks between Modi and Johnson, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said India's objective is to bring back economic fugitives who are wanted in India to face justice in the country and the matter did come up in the deliberations between the two leaders.

"On the issue of economic offenders, you are aware that we have been pursuing this matter for some time at different levels with the UK. Our objective is to bring back those economic fugitives who are wanted in India to face justice in the country and the matter did come up in today's talks," Shringla said.

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Noting that it was conveyed by the Indian side that this is a "high priority", he said the UK side was told that the coming back of economic offenders that are in the UK soon was important from the perspective of our justice system.

"He (Johnson) took note of the point raised by us and he indicated that he was very sensitive to Indian concerns in this regard and he would see what he could do," the foreign secretary said.

Asked if the issue of Khalistani elements in the UK was raised during the talks, Shringla said the issue of Khalistani anti-India activists who take advantage of freedoms that are offered by democracies such as ours was raised quite clearly and prime minister Johnson took careful note of that.

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"He (Johnson) said he was very sensitive to our concerns in this regard and he would have a close look at that. As far as he was concerned, there was zero tolerance for such people who can create issues that can impact the relationship between the two countries," Shringla said.

At the presser, the British PM said, "We don't tolerate extremist groups operating in the UK and targeting other countries" when asked about Khalistani elements in the UK.

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