Why even a Red Corner Notice can’t nab Nirav Modi
With the Interpol issuing a Red Corner Notice (RCN) against him, absconding billionaire and jeweller Nirav Modi has joined the list of 160-odd individuals who are facing detainment orders on the request of Indian authorities. It includes individuals wanted for charges of narcotics possession, dowry-related violence, cheating, money laundering, abuse of official position, running crime syndicates, terrorism and waging war against the Indian state.
From low-profile offenders to high-profile individuals such as Masood Azhar, Dawood Ibrahim, Christian Michel and Carlo Gerosa, the list names a variety of fugitives wanted by India’s judicial authorities.
Here we break down the RCN issued against Nirav Modi and whether it will be enough for Indian authorities to get their hands on the absconding diamantaire.
Not an international arrest warrant
Contrary to popular perception, an Interpol RCN is not an international arrest warrant. However, based on this order, India could request another country to provisionally arrest Nirav Modi and push for his extradition. The Interpol press office had earlier told India Today: “INTERPOL cannot insist or compel any member country to arrest an individual who is the subject of a Red Notice. Nor can INTERPOL require any member country to take any action in response to another member country’s request. Each INTERPOL member country decides for itself what legal value to give Red Notice within their borders.”
According to an Interpol response to India Today: “An RCN is a request to provisionally arrest an individual pending extradition issued by the general secretariat, it is not an international arrest warrant.”
Travel restrictions
Interpol shares the information issued through RCN with 192 member countries. This makes life difficult for individuals facing such notices, especially while visiting another country and passing through immigration. According to reports, post fleeing India, Nirav Modi has travelled extensively. Following the RCN, that is no longer possible as he would find it difficult to move freely.
But even that does not guarantee custody of the individual. A perfect example is British citizen Christian Michel who is wanted in the VVIP chopper deal case by India and has been holed up in UAE since 2013.
But Indian authorities have not been successful in extraditing him so far despite having an Interpol RCN issued against his name.
Interpol notices are not permanent
No Interpol notice is permanent and there have been several instances where such orders were removed following legal appeals by the accused. In the case of former IPL boss Lalit Modi, his name was included in the Interpol database following a request from Indian agencies only to be removed once Modi’s lawyers challenged the notice.
Interpol’s general secretariat in Lyon issued a letter in this regard to clarify that Modi’s name was removed from their database. Similarly, RCNs issued against Italian businessman Guido Haschke and Islamic preacher Zakir Naik were withdrawn following legal proceedings in Europe.
So, Nirav Modi has the option of appealing against the Interpol RCN to have it removed.
Bilateral extradition treaty is the key
According to Interpol’s response to an India Today query, “many of Interpol’s member countries consider a red notice a valid request for provisional arrest, especially if they are linked to the requesting country via a bilateral extradition treaty. In cases where arrests are made based on a Red Notice, these are made by national police officials in INTERPOL member countries”.
So it all comes down to hard evidence, the laws of a country and the relationship between two countries involved in a particular case.
A perfect example is European businessman Carlo Gerosa, also an accused in the VVIP chopper deal case. Gerosa was arrested by the Italian police against an Interpol RCN in September 2017, only to be released without even a bail bond.
In this case, the prosecution did not push for his custody stating lack of evidence, in the absence of an extradition treaty between India and Italy.
Successful cases
The last high-profile person of interest who was successfully arrested and extradited with the help of an Interpol notice was underworld don Chhota Rajan. Earlier, another wanted don, Abu Salem was arrested by the Portuguese police in 2002 and extradited to India after a two-year long legal tussle in Portugal. Some of the charges against Salem had to be dropped to honour the conditions of the extradition treaty between India and Portugal.
Both these cases were against individuals charged with narcotics peddling, illegal arms trade and murder charges, which made the extradition process easier.