Prevention of Money Laundering(PMLA) special court in Mumbai  declared absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya a fugitive economic offender (FEO) on a plea of the Enforcement Directorate.
Mallya has become the first businessman to be declared FEO under the provisions of the new Fugitive Economic Offenders Act  which came into existence in August last year.

                                        LEARNING WITH TIMES

Under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance, promulgated by the President in April,

• A fugitive economic offender is any individual against whom a warrant for arrest  has been issued for his or her involvement in economic offences involving at least Rs. 100 crore or more in relation to a scheduled offence has been issued by any court in India and who has either left India to avoid criminal prosecution, or who, being abroad, refuses to return to India to face criminal prosecution.
• The list of offences that can qualify an individual to be designated an economic offender, enumerated in the schedule to the Ordinance, includes offences under several Acts such as the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881; the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934; the Central Excise Act, 1944; the Customs Act, 1962; the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988; the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002; and the Indian Penal Code.
• The Central government can confiscate the proceeds of the crime in India or abroad, whether or not such property is owned by the fugitive economic offender, and any other property or benami property in India or abroad that is owned by the fugitive economic offender.