Is liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s long court battle coming to an end in the UK courts? Will he finally come to India to continue his legal battles in the country?
The extradition case of embattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya has entered final stages with Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London set to hear closing arguments in the trial on Tuesday. Mallya will return to the court where the judge will set a timeline for a ruling in the high-profile case.
The 62-year-old former Kingfisher Airlines boss, who has been on bail on an extradition warrant since his arrest in April last year, is fighting extradition to India on charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to around Rs 9,000 crores. Mallya has been living in Britain since March 2016.
The case is being heard by Senior District Judge Emma Arbuthnot. Indian authorities are represented in the case by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
A CPS spokesperson said the judge will hear final submissions on July 31 and the Judgment will be reserved until a future date (to be arranged).
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At the last hearing in the case on April 27, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had received a boost in the case as Judge Arbuthnot confirmed that the bulk of the evidence submitted by the Indian authorities will be admissible in the case.
The CBI had submitted a detailed set of documents to the UK court, which includes its case of conspiracy against former IDBI Bank Deputy Managing Director BK Batra, who was referred to in court as a new villain of sorts in the case.
Mallya’s defense team, headed by barrister Clare Montgomery, has disputed the fraud allegations and also submitted further written material from UK-based prisons expert Dr. Alan Mitchell, challenging some of the photographs of Barrack 12 of Mumbai Central Prison on Arthur Road, where Mallya is to be held if he is extradited from the UK.
The CPS team, led by barrister Mark Summers, dismissed the additional material as an “attempt to criticise” the information provided by the Indian authorities and reiterated that all concerns regarding natural light and medical provisions at Barrack 12 had been addressed by the Indian authorities.
The extradition trial, which opened at the London court on December 4 last year, is aimed at laying out a prima facie case of fraud against Mallya, who has been based in the UK since he left India in March 2016. It also seeks to prove there are no “bars to extradition” and that the tycoon is assured a fair trial in India over his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines’ alleged default of over Rs 9,000 crores in loans from a consortium of Indian banks.
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