The infamous Vijay Mallya case has taken a new turn as of April 5. The Westminster Magistrate court had given the judgment in favor of deporting Vijay Mallya to India in light of his fugitive status. The accused had then appealed against the order in the High Court, where the appeal was rejected.
“Allegations against Vijay Mallya”
The CEO of Kingfisher Airlines, several liquor shops, former Formula One owner and Member of the Parliament, Vijay Mallya had a case registered against him on July 29, 2015, which included his airline company as well as the Chief Financial Officer of Kingfisher Airlines Limited (KAL) and unidentified officials of IDBI Bank on the accusation of defrauding banks to the tune of Rs 9,000 crore. The allegation was that those involved had sanctioned and disbursed loans to KAL despite the terrible financial situation it was in with a negative net worth and below par credit rating in violation of IDBI’s corporate loan policy.
“Investigations revealed fraud”
The investigation had revealed that KAL had fraudulently used huge portions of loan funds to get rid of previous debt and diverted the loan funds towards other activities. Large amounts had been sanctioned and remitted abroad claiming to be for payment of lease, rentals, etc. Vijay Mallya has since been on the run and fled from India to the United Kingdom on 2 March 2016 after a circular was issued by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). As a result of his actions, Mallya was declared as India’s first fugitive economic offender under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act by a special PMLA court in Mumbai after an appeal was filed by the Enforcement Directorate, one of the agencies investigating Vijay Mallya.
“UK court’s decision”
On Monday, the UK High Court rejected the plea filed by the accused against his extradition order given by the Westminster Magistrate Court on 5 April. The order of deportation had already been accepted by the UK Home Office.
Mallya seems to have exhausted all other legal options which have left him with only one other alternative- appeal before the Court of UK against the extradition order. This new application can be filed within 5 working days for oral consideration. According to Indian Government sources, the rejection of the appeal was on the basis of strong evidence presented by the Indian Agencies investigating and probing the businessman and that this is a major victory as it brings these agencies one step closer to punishing the culprit.
According to the UK Home Office Spokesperson, “Mr. Mallya’s application for leave to appeal against extradition has been refused by the High Court. Mr. Mallya may now renew his application to the Court.”
“Huge victory”
This also seems to play into the political angle as it sets a huge victory for the foreign relations established by the Modi-led Government. The Indian Agencies are further probing into the matter to bring forth more substantial evidence to convict Mallya in the UK court and allow him to be deported back to India where he is to face the charges levied against him.
