Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Jotham Napat said on Monday that the country has decided to revoke the citizenship of Indian businessman Lalit Modi, who is wanted by Delhi in a corruption case, BBC reported.

The decision was made three days after India confirmed that Modi had obtained citizenship in Vanuatu, an archipelago of over 80 islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Modi, who is the former chief of the Indian Premier League, is wanted for allegedly manipulating bids during his time leading the world’s richest cricket tournament.

He has consistently denied the accusations against him, having lived in the UK since 2010.

On Friday, Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal informed reporters that Modi had submitted a request to relinquish his Indian passport in London.

“We are also given to understand that he has acquired citizenship of Vanuatu. We continue to pursue the case against him as required under law,” Jaiswal said.

The announcement of Modi acquiring Vanuatu citizenship made waves in India, where he was previously a prominent figure in the glamorous, lucrative IPL tournament.

He was a familiar sight in social circles, mingling with Bollywood celebrities and the country’s elite.

“None of those legitimate reasons include attempting to avoid extradition, which the recent facts brought to light clearly indicate was Modi’s intention,” a media release quoted the Vanuatu PM.

He stated that the background checks and Interpol screenings carried out during Modi’s passport application revealed no criminal convictions.

But he noted that over the last 24 hours, he learned that Interpol had twice declined India’s requests to issue an alert notice regarding Modi due to insufficient “substantive judicial evidence.”

Read more

IPL’s Modi blasts cricket’s Hundred as ‘big fat Ponzi scheme’

*India’s cricket board names Gautam Gambhir as head coach *

Protests planned for Modi’s US visit over India’s human rights

The release further mentioned, “Any such alert would have led to an automatic denial of Modi’s citizenship application.”

The day before, Modi posted on X stating that there were no pending cases against him in any Indian court and accused the media of spreading “fake news” about him.

Vanuatu does not have an extradition treaty with India. Extradition treaties allow repatriation of people accused of crimes between countries.