Vanuatu Prime Minister Jotham Napat directed the country’s Citizenship Commission to cancel the Vanuatu passport issued to former Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi following recent revelations in international media, as per Vanuatu Daily Post.
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The passport was canceled based on reports in the international media that suggested Lalit Modi was avoiding extradition to India.
Mehmood Abdi, legal counsel for Lalit Modi, told IANS that Lalit Modi has acquired the citizenship of Vanuatu. He has taken all necessary steps for the surrender of his Indian passport as per the prescribed procedure. We would also like to emphasize that no chargesheet or… pic.twitter.com/NumDwZf9eN
— IANS (@ians_india) March 7, 2025
Vanuatu Prime Minister Jotham Napat has asked the country’s Citizenship Commission to cancel the passport issued to Lalit Modi “following recent revelations in international media”, his office said.
“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,” Prime Minister Napat said.
He 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 intention,” he added.
Lalit Modi, who previously served as the vice president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), is accused of alleged bid-rigging, money laundering, and violating the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA).
He left India in 2010 while under investigation for alleged financial misconduct, including unauthorized fund transfers. On March 7, while responding to a question on reports that Lalit Modi had acquired the citizenship of Vanuatu, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that they were aware of his application for surrendering his passport in the High Commission of India in London. They are continuing to pursue all cases against him as per the law. The Spokesperson added, “The same will be examined in light of extant rules and procedures. We have also been informed that he has acquired citizenship in Vanuatu. We continue to pursue the case against him as required under law.”
Earlier, in a post on X on March 8, Lalit Modi wrote, “No court of law in India has a case pending against me personally. It’s only media fiction. Fifteen years have gone. But they keep saying we are going after me – more than welcome to. But first file an application for any wrongdoing, instead of just imagining that I have been charge with something wrong…. This is called fake news…. Only thing that I have done single handedly is create a global loved product called IPL which you lap it up like there is no tomorrow.”
True facts. No court of law in India has a case pending against me personally. It’s only media fiction. Fifteen years have gone. But they keep saying we are going after me – more than welcome to. But first file an application for ANY WRONGDOING. INSTEAD OF JUST IMAGINING I HAVE… https://t.co/O57zR2A6PK
— Lalit Kumar Modi (@LalitKModi) March 8, 2025
Lalit Modi is currently based in London and applied to surrender his Indian passport upon acquiring citizenship of Vanuatu.
