Close to eight years since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power with a vow to weed out corruption from the country, his government has faced charges of failing on the front many times from the opposition. Despite a carefully crafted narrative of a government that did not care for reputations, Modi’s government’s image took a beating when Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi fled India for banking frauds they had committed during the tenure of Manmohan Sing-led UPA government.
In December 2021, the parliament was informed that 33 accused in bank fraud cases registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) fled the country in the last five years.
All these years, it was the opposition that led the charge against the government for allowing the three fugitives to escape the country, even as the agencies worked on the nitty-gritty of international laws to extradite the accused. Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, and Mehul Choksi, who collectively owe Rs 22,000 crore to banks in India, are still at large. But the government has something to save its image finally.
On Wednesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said banks have recovered as much as Rs 13,109 crore from the sale of assets belonging to fugitive economic offenders Mallya, Modi, and Choksi.
But recovering money from the fugitives may not be enough, as the fight against corruption is not about recovering money, but punishing offenders.
The Directorate of…
