THE ODDITY OF PRIVILEGED FUGITIVES

E UROPEAN courts seem keen to legitimise high privileges for other countries' economic fugitives.

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Belgian courts have reportedly approved the extradition of one of India's most wanted economic fugitives only after the Indian government furnished formal, legally-binding assurances. The government undertook to lodge him in a specially-prepared cell at Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail, conforming to the standards set by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture-adequate space, ventilation, medical care, nutritious food, media access, and no solitary confinement.

Demands for special privileges are understandable when sought for a country's own citizens. But insistence on such treatment for those wanted elsewhere is discordant. The trend reflects a newfound love of some countries for wealthy economic fugitives. Oliver Bullough's 2022 bestseller, Butler to the World: How Britain Became the Servant of Tycoons, Tax Dodgers, Kleptocrats and Criminals, lucidly captures this phenomenon and its corrosive effects.

Every individual, including an accused or a convict, is entitled to basic human rights. But demanding special comforts under the guise of human rights reflects troubling double standards and a transactional stance to justice. Using it as an excuse to embrace a fugitive moneybag's assets is an open endorsement of financial crimes.

This is paradoxical especially because many of these countries are founding members of the Financial Action Task Force and signatories to global conventions against money laundering. Their offshore tax havens further expose this hypocrisy. Unless such duplicity is confronted, global public policy's fight against financial crimes and money laundering risks becoming an empty slogan.