Dubai, March 10, 2025 – Lalit Modi, the fugitive businessman and brains behind the Indian Premier League (IPL), hit another roadblock today as Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Jotham Napat ordered the cancellation of his recently acquired Vanuatu passport. The move comes amid mounting concerns that Modi, wanted in India for alleged financial misconduct, was using the Pacific island nation’s citizenship as a shield against extradition.
Modi, who has been living in London since fleeing India in 2010, found himself in the spotlight again after applying to surrender his Indian passport at the Indian High Commission in London earlier this month. That decision raised eyebrows, but it was his Vanuatu citizenship—secured through the country’s controversial “Citizenship by Investment” program—that triggered the latest twist. On Monday, PM Napat pulled the plug, accusing Modi of gaming the system to dodge justice.
“I’ve told our Citizenship Commission to revoke Lalit Modi’s passport immediately,” Napat declared in a fiery statement. “This isn’t a free pass to hide from the law. Citizenship here is a privilege, not a loophole.” He pointed to fresh reports that Modi’s real aim was to sidestep extradition to India, where he faces charges of embezzlement and money laundering tied to his IPL days. Napat didn’t mince words: “The facts are clear—he’s trying to outrun justice, and we’re not having it.”
The decision wasn’t without its complications. Napat admitted that Modi had passed all initial background checks, including Interpol screenings, with no red flags. But a last-minute bombshell changed the game: Interpol had twice rejected India’s requests for an alert notice on Modi, citing “insufficient judicial evidence.” Had that alert been active, Modi’s citizenship bid would’ve been dead on arrival. “We only learned this in the last 24 hours,” Napat said, hinting at gaps in the process that Vanuatu is now scrambling to fix.
For India, this is a small win in a long chase. Modi’s been a thorn in their side since 2010, when he bolted amid probes into financial irregularities—allegedly siphoning off crores during his IPL tenure. Efforts to extradite him from the UK have hit dead ends, and his pivot to Vanuatu, a nation with no extradition treaty with India, looked like a clever dodge. Now, with that passport gone, his options are shrinking fast.
Vanuatu’s citizenship program, which lets wealthy outsiders buy passports for a cool $135,000 to $155,000, has long been a cash cow—raking in nearly a third of the country’s revenue. But it’s also drawn scrutiny for lax oversight. Napat leaned into that tension, stressing that the program’s tightened up over the past four years with “triple-agency checks” to weed out shady applicants. Modi’s case, he argued, proves the system’s catching up—even if it’s a bit late.
Modi’s camp hasn’t stayed quiet. Just days ago, he took to X, firing back at his critics: “No court in India has a case against me. It’s all media fiction. Fifteen years, and they’ve got nothing—file something real or stop chasing shadows.” Whether that’s bravado or truth, India’s not backing off. The Ministry of External Affairs confirmed they’re still “pursuing the case as required under law,” with Modi’s passport surrender under review.
This isn’t the end of the road for Modi, but it’s a sharp turn. With Vanuatu out of the picture, his London perch looks shakier. Will the UK finally budge on extradition? Or will Modi find another hideout? For now, the man who turned cricket into a billion-dollar spectacle is running out of places to play defense—and the clock’s ticking louder than ever.
