Fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya, lost a High Court appeal in the UK against his extradition order to India on April 20. Mallya is wanted in India on money laundering charges in the sum of an estimated ₹9,000 crore and alleged fraud. At a hearing in February this year, he had appealed to the High Court against his extradition to India.
The 64-year-old former Kingfisher Airlines boss and his firm have come under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) for loan defaults of over Rs 10,000 crore to a consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI). The consortium has sought a bankruptcy order against Mallya as part of efforts to recoup the unpaid loans from him.
The two-member bench at the Royal Courts of Justice in London comprising Lord Justice Stephen Irwin and Justice Elisabeth Laing that presided over the appeal dismissed it in a judgment handed down remotely due to the coronavirus lockdown.
“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 (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED)], there is a prima facie case which, in seven important respects, coincides with the allegations in India,” the judges reiterated in the ruling.
As reported by the TOI, senior Enforcement Directorate official monitoring the case said an agency team is likely to leave for London soon to take custody of Vijay Mallya who has 14 days to seek permission to appeal in the Supreme Court of UK.
However, permission to such appeal is only granted on constitutional matters. Since this is not a constitutional matter or an issue necessitating constitutional interpretation, it is very unlikely to get such permission. Once Mallya’s request for appeal is rejected, the investigating agency gets another 14 days to take him into its custody and extradite him to India.
