Day 6 | Parliament passes Economic Offenders Bill

The Parliament on Wednesday passed The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018 that seeks to prevent big economic offenders like Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi from fleeing the country and evading the legal process.

The bill, whose measure was cleared by the Lok Sabha on July 19, was passed by the Rajya Sabha with a voice vote on Wednesday.

“This bill is an effective, expeditious and constitutional way to stop these offenders from running away.  Legislative changes or a new law must be in place to confiscate assets of such absconders till they don’t present themselves in front of the courts. We will also work out what has to be done with the confiscated assets,” Finance MInister Piyush Goyal said.

Goyal, while justifying the financial limit of Rs 100 crore for invoking the provision of this new law, said it was being done to catch the big offenders and not to clog the courts and added that the Enforcement Directorate will be the investigative agency under the Act.

Here are the LIVE updates from day 6 of Parliament Monsoon Session:

# 15:10 pm: A special court will be designated to declare a person as fugitive economic offender and confiscate his properties: Piyush Goyal

The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill 2018 seeks to lay down measures to empower Indian authorities to attach and confiscate proceeds associated with crime, scheduled economic offences & the properties of such fugitives who run away from the country: @PiyushGoyal

— Piyush Goyal Office (@PiyushGoyalOffc) July 25, 2018

# 14:40 pm: Minister of Finance Piyush Goyal presented the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill 2018 in Rajya Sabha.

# 14:46 pm: Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha proceedings begin after lunch.

# 14:10 pm: We've issued orders to all states that no Rohingya should possess Indian documents, so that we can talk to government of Myanmar & EAM Sushma Swaraj can speak with the foreign minister of Myanmar, Rajnath Singh said in Rajya Sabha.

# 13:54 pm: PM is out on a 5-day tour when the Parliament session is on. The meeting could have been avoided. It was not an inevitable meeting. But, since he has the absolute majority, he chooses to go on foreign tours and skips Parliament sessions: Kharge.

PM is out on a 5-day tour when the Parliament session is on. The meeting could have been avoided. It was not an inevitable meeting. But, since he has the absolute majority, he chooses to go on foreign tours and skips Parliament sessions: Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress pic.twitter.com/6t66tOP7gC

— ANI (@ANI) July 25, 2018

# 13:53 pm: A Parliament Joint Committee should be made, as it was done in Bofors case, to state facts of Rafale Deal. If it is cheaper, then PM should have stated it during No Confidence Motion. Now statements by BJP are just afterthoughts to mask corruption: Congress's Kharge.

# 13:50 pm: Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha adjourned till 2 pm.

# 13:41 pm: Privilege notices against PM, Defence Minister being considered: Mahajan

# 13:18 pm: MPs should stay in limit while in Parliament, says Sumitra Mahajan after resuming the lower house proceedings.

# 12:22 pm: Speaker Sumitra Mahajan adjourned Lok Sabha till 12:30 pm.

# 12:20 pm: NEET data leak raises questions on the sanctity of CBSE to conduct exams: Congress's Venugopal.

# 11:52 am: Mallikarjun Kharge raises questions on cost of bullet train project; Piyush Goyal says holistic development.

# 11:46 am: Women safety issue raised in Rajya Sabha.

# 10:58 am: Congress MP KC Venugopal has given adjournment notice in Lok Sabha over NEET data leak matter.

# 10:45 am: Delhi: TDP MP Naramalli Sivaprasad dresses up as freedom fighter Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy to protest over the demand of special status for Andhra Pradesh. Sivaprasad has earlier dressed up as a woman, a washerman and a schoolboy among others.

Delhi: TDP MP Naramalli Sivaprasad dresses up as freedom fighter Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy to protest over the demand of special status for Andhra Pradesh. Sivaprasad has earlier dressed up as a woman, a washerman & a schoolboy among others #MonsoonSession pic.twitter.com/yjcinnHCcL

— ANI (@ANI) July 25, 2018

Apart from that, Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Veerappa Moily, Jyotiraditya Scindia, KV Thomas and Rajeev Satav on Tuesday moved a privilege motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who acording to Rahul Gandhi lied to the nation on the Rafale deal issue.

The Gandhi scion also said Sitharaman had herself said earlier that she would disclose the details about the deal, but later cited a secrecy clause.

The Congress chief said the French president had clearly conveyed to him that there was no problem in sharing details relating to the Rafale deal worth Rs 58,000 crore.

Alleging corruption in the deal, the Congress has been demanding details, including cost of equipment and weapons, but the government has refused to share them citing a secrecy pact with France.