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UAE submits a list of wanted Indians

Our Correspondent in Abu Dhabi

The United Arab Emirates has submitted a list of Indians wanted for several offences ranging from fraud to murder.

The UAE police authorities submitted the list to a team of the Central Bureau of Investigation, which visited Abu Dhabi last week.

Most of those wanted by the UAE police are accused of economic crimes, sources said. The sums involved range from thousands to millions of dollars.

The CBI team, led by deputy director P R Dubey, also presented its own list of India's most wanted. Both lists have been kept secret.

But sources said that among the people wanted by the UAE is one Sita Ram, who is accused of having duped DNATA, a Dubai airport unit, to the tune of millions of dirhams. Another is Ravi Bhai, who is wanted in connection with the massacre of a Gujarati family following a dispute over the havala (illegal foreign currency exchange) trade. Ravi Bhai is believed to have connections with some Indian politicians.

The UAE side was headed by the acting director general of the police department, Colonel Khamis Saif bin Suwaif. The meetings took place at the UAE interior ministry's criminal security department.

The meeting came within days of the UAE and India signing an extradition treaty in New Delhi. The treaty provides a legal framework for seeking the extradition of terrorists, economic offenders and other criminals.

Immediately after signing the treaty, Law Minister Ram Jethmalani had said that several extradition requests are already pending on both sides.

Under the agreement, extradition will be possible irrespective of whether the crime was committed before or after the treaty was signed.

But many remain sceptical about its success. "It is a good move for both the Indian and UAE economies," said Abdul Aziz Al-Ghurair, CEO of MashreqBank and a leading UAE businessman. "We have several cases of Indians running away from here and also Indians committing a crime and coming to Dubai."

But the challenge will be in swift implementation of the treaty, he said. "If both sides drag their feet, it will be of no use."

"Certain power points in India could become a hurdle in the implementation of the treaty," Al-Ghurair told reporters.

On being asked to identify challenges to the pact, Al-Ghurair said: "Bureaucracy will be an issue. We are a small country and our bureaucracy will work towards it. But India is a big country and the bureaucracy is slow."

MashreqBank is one of UAE's leading banks, and is generous in giving out loans to businessmen and individuals. But, like all banks, it also faces the problem of defaulters, who take loans and simply vanish.

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