Vijay Mallya’s appeal against extradition to India rejected by UK court
Mallya faces fraud and money laundering charges resulting from the collapse of his defunct company Kingfisher Airlines.
The High Court in London on Monday dismissed liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya’s appeal against a 2018 order to extradite him to India over charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to Rs 9,000 crore, PTI reported. The former Kingfisher Airlines boss had appealed to the High Court against his extradition to India in February.
“We consider that while the scope of the prima facie case found by the SDJ [Senior District Judge] is in some respects wider than that alleged by the Respondent in India [Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate], there is a prima facie case which, in seven important respects, coincides with the allegations in India,” Lord Justice Stephen Irwin and Justice Elisabeth Laing of the Royal Courts of Justice in London said.
Mallya faces fraud and money laundering charges resulting from the collapse of his defunct company Kingfisher Airlines. The liquor baron fled India and moved to London in March 2016.
India submitted an extradition request to the United Kingdom in February 2017 after Mallya made his self-imposed exile clear. In July, the United Kingdom High Court allowed him to challenge his extradition order.
In January, a court in Mumbai allowed the banks to utilise Mallya’s movable assets to recover the money they are owed. On January 6, the Supreme Court said Mallya cannot cite the pendency of his plea in the top court to delay insolvency proceedings in courts “anywhere else in the world”.
Earlier this month, the High Court in London deferred hearings on a plea by a consortium of banks, led by the State Bank of India, seeking that businessman Mallya be declared bankrupt, to enable them to recover a loan of around £1.145 billion (Rs 10,832 crore) from him. The court ruled that he should be given time till his petitions to the Supreme Court of India and his settlement proposal before the Karnataka High Court are determined.