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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Request for Vijay Mallya extradition certified by British govt: MEA
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Request for Vijay Mallya extradition certified by British govt: MEA

India is seeking Mallya's extradition on charges of wilful loan default and other financial irregularities.

Fugitive industrialist Vijay Mallya owes over Rs9,000 crore to different banks, including the State Bank of India, as part of loans extended to his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. Photo: PTIPremium
Fugitive industrialist Vijay Mallya owes over Rs9,000 crore to different banks, including the State Bank of India, as part of loans extended to his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: The UK government has acted on India’s request to extradite businessman Vijay Mallya, forwarding India’s letter to a UK district court for possibly issuing an arrest warrant, the foreign ministry said on Friday.

“A formal extradition request in respect of Vijay Mallya as per extradition treaty between India and UK was handed over to the British High Commission in New Delhi" in February, said Indian foreign ministry spokesman Gopal Baglay.

“The UK Home Office has conveyed that the request has been certified by the secretary of state and sent to Westminster Magistrates’ Court for a district judge to consider issuing an arrest warrant," Baglay said in a statement.

Mallya is wanted in India by enforcement agencies for alleged money laundering and is being pursued by creditors of his grounded airline. He left for the UK in March 2016 as lenders and investigating agencies closed in on him following his $75 million sweetheart deal with Diageo Plc. to quit as chairman of United Spirits Ltd. His Kingfisher Airlines owes upwards of Rs9,000 crore to a consortium of lenders led by State Bank of India.

Attempts to reach Uday Holla, a Bengaluru lawyer who handles some of Mallya’s cases, failed; his phone was switched off. Mallya’s UB Group had no immediate comment.

The former liquor baron has repeatedly failed to appear before investigators at the Enforcement Directorate probing alleged money laundering charges against him.

India revoked Mallya’s passport soon after he left for the UK and requested his deportation. But the British government cited its inability to comply, pointing out that under its immigration laws, a valid passport was not a necessity as long as the document was valid when he was given permission to enter Britain.

People familiar with extradition proceedings said it can be a long and tortuous process.

Mallya, who has expressed doubts about receiving a fair trial in India, is expected to contest the Indian request for extradition. And the hearing in the case could take years.

“Mallya now will have to persuade the English court as to why he ought not to be extradited. One of the popular defences that is taken is that the case in the home country is politically motivated," said Ramni Taneja, a Delhi-based lawyer specializing in extradition law.

Mallya has repeatedly told the Supreme Court that he is being unfairly targeted by the government. “I am being made a poster boy for bad loans," he has said.

Mallya also figured in talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Theresa May during the latter’s visit to India in November. Britain is looking to conclude a trade pact with India which can be signed as soon as Britain exits the European Union—in about two years.

Earlier this month, Mallya had appealed to the Supreme Court to help revive his attempt to reach a one-time settlement with creditors of Kingfisher Airlines.

Deepti Govind in Bengaluru contributed to this story.

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Published: 24 Mar 2017, 05:45 PM IST
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