Devas multimedia case: ED submits details for declaring founder CEO fugitive economic offender

On Friday, the ED presented a note on the Central authority that can issue an FEO notice, the format for notice and guidelines on mutual legal assistance between countries in criminal matters. The court will pass order next week on the ED move to initiate the process of declaring Viswanathan an FEO.

As per the process outlined by the ED for issuing notices under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act-2018, an officer not below the rank of Deputy Director in the ED can seek direction from a special court to declare an individual an FEO and a notice will be forwarded as per Section 10 (4) of the Act to a central authority notified by the Central government. An official in the MHA is designated as the Central authority to carry out mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT) requests on behalf of Indian agencies with foreign countries.

The ED is required to provide a statement of reasons to declare an individual an FEO, details of warrants issued to the individual, proof of current location, proof of efforts made to bring the individual back to India, and a list of properties linked to the individual in India and abroad that can be confiscated by the ED.

The ED has sought to declare Viswanathan, the founder-CEO of Bengaluru start-up Devas Multimedia Pvt Ltd, which was liquidated in May 2021 by the National Company Law Tribunal, a FEO in a money laundering case filed against him (and nine others) for allegedly diverting to the United States 85 per cent of a total of Rs 579 crore of FDI it received following a 2005 satellite deal with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) after the deal was annulled in 2011.

The declaration of an individual as a FEO will allow the ED to seek confiscation of properties in India and abroad which are identified as proceeds of a crime.