The United Kingdom High Court Monday dismissed a plea filed by liquor baron Vijay Mallya against his extradition to India. The case will now go to UK home secretary, Priti Patel, for a final decision on his extradition. Mallya is facing charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to Rs 9,000 crore by a consortium of Indian public sector banks led by the State Bank of India.
Lord Justice Stephen Irwin and Justice Elisabeth Laing, the two-member bench at the Royal Courts of Justice in London dismissed the appeal stating “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.”
Mallya remains on bail on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard in April 2017, involving a bail bond worth GBP 650,000 and other restrictions on his travel.
In February this year, at the end of his three-day appeal against the extradition order, Mallya repeated his request to the Indian banks to take back 100 per cent of the principal amount owed to them. “I request the banks with folded hands, take 100 per cent of your principal back, immediately,” he had said outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
In July last year, a two-judge panel at the Royal Courts of Justice in London granted him permission to appeal against the extradition order of a lower court.
Mallya flew out of India in March 2016 and has been living in the United Kingdom since then.