The noose is tightening over Vijay Mallya as the business tycoon turned fraudster lost his appeal in the London High Court. Mallya was appealing against a 2018 lower court decision to extradite him to India to face trial on the allegations of defrauding Indian banks of over Rs 9,000 crore. Mallya has little room to negotiate, and it is expected that he will be extradited to India in the coming weeks.
The ball is now in the court of Home Secretary to whether uphold the decision of the High Court or not which will likely be taken in the span of four weeks. If Priti Patel upholds the decision, Mallya has the option to challenge the order in British Supreme Court which is easier said than done.
Mallya had escaped to the United Kingdom in 2016 and ever since then the CBI and ED have been aggressively looking to bring him back to India. In 2018, a lower court had ordered Mallya to be extradited post which the fugitive appealed in the London High Court. District judge Emma Arbuthnot had described Mallya as a “flashy ostensibly billionaire playboy who charmed and cajoled bankers”. Now that the High Court too has dismissed his appeal, Mallya has 14 days to apply for permission to appeal to the British Supreme Court.
The London High Court said Mallya defrauded, “in the order of (a) INR 1500 million on October 7, 2009, (b) INR 2000 Million on November 4, 2009, and (c) INR 7500 million on November 27, 2009, with the intention not to repay the said loans as agreed and required.” The judges ruled, “We have held there is a prima facie case both of misrepresentation and of conspiracy, and thus there is also a prima facie case of money laundering.”
It is expected that Mallya will appeal to the British Supreme Court to delay the inevitable and in the case that he doesn’t apply, Mallya will be extradited to India in the next 28 days. An official was quoted as saying, “UK Extradition Act permits appeal before Supreme Court only if there is a “significant point of law” to be settled… that too within 14 days period. Even if he chooses for an appeal, it’s unlikely to be permitted as there is no significant point of law to be settled in this case. Mallya’s extradition is confirmed and sealed.”
For Mallya to appeal, the High Court must grant him permission to appeal to the Supreme Court by certifying a point of law of public importance. If the High Court doesn’t certify, Mallya would have to be extradited to India in the next 28 days under the India-UK Extradition Treaty.
The court further observed that Mallya supplied false information to the banks with respect to the health of Kingfisher in order to secure loans worth Rs 9,000 crore which Mallya had no intention to repay.
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Mallya at best can try to delay the inevitable by a few months but he will soon be forced to leave his mansion in the UK and face trial in India. “He faces a significant hurdle in getting his case to the Supreme Court as the threshold is high and often not met. He could also seek to suspend the removal process due to the coronavirus. It is almost certain he will put in an application to appeal, if nothing else to delay the inevitable,” said Extradition barrister Toby Cadman.
The dismissal of Mallya’s appeal is a huge boon for India and a testament to CBI’s brilliant investigation which has compelled the UK to extradite Mallya to India.
