PORT VILA: Vanuatu Prime Minister Jotham Napat on Monday directed the Citizenship Commission to cancel the passport issued to former Indian Premier League (IPL) founder Lalit Modi, saying that the fugitive was attempting to avoid his extradition.

On March 7, Modi filed an application with the Indian high commission in London to surrender his Indian passport. He is known to have acquired citizenship of Vanuatu, a South Pacific Island nation. He left India in 2010 and is learnt to have been living in London.

An official media release by the Republic of Vanuatu stated, “I have instructed the Citizenship Commission to cancel the Vanuatu passport issued to Lalit Modi following recent revelations in international media. "

“I have been made aware in the past 24 hours that Interpol twice rejected Indian authorities' requests to issue an alert notice on Lalit Modi due to lack of substantive judicial evidence. Any such alert would have triggered an automatic rejection of Mr Modi's citizenship application, " the statement said.

The release also stated that the “Prime Minister emphasised that holding a Vanuatu passport is a privilege, not a right, and applicants must seek citizenship for legitimate reasons. "

“None of those legitimate reasons include attempting to avoid extradition, which the recent facts brought to light clearly indicate was Modi's intension, " the statement said.