Earlier today, former liquor baron and now a fugitive businessman, Vijay Mallya, lost his appeal in the London High Court against his extradition order to India. Mallya currently faces charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to an alleged Rs 9,000 crore in the Indian court.
A two-member bench at the Royal Courts of Justice in London comprising of Lord Justice Stephen Irwin and Justice Elisabeth Laing dismissed the appeal in a judgment handed down remotely due to the current 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,” they ruled.
Vijay Mallya had appealed to the High Court against his extradition to India at a hearing in February this year. A former Rajya Sabha member, Mallya is the ex-chairman of United Spirits and currently continues to serve as chairman of the United Breweries Group.
Mallya, the former Kingfisher Airlines boss, started the venture in 2005, but the airlines were grounded in 2012 after a burgeoning debt burden made it impossible to continue operations. The airline is also being investigated for suspected diversion of funds and financial irregularities. Mallya left the country on March 2, 2016, the day a clutch of public-sector banks moved the Debt Recovery Tribunal against him. In January 2019, he was declared a fugitive economic offender under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.
