Disappointed, but will continue legal fight against extradition: Vijay Mallya
The HinduEmbattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who lost his U.K. High Court appeal against an extradition order to India, has said that he is “disappointed” with the ruling but will continue to seek legal remedies as advised by his legal team. The businessman, who has been based in the U.K. since March 2016 and remains on bail after his arrest on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard in April 2017, also expressed his disappointment with the media narrative which quotes ₹9,000 crore as the amount owed in the fraud and money laundering case brought by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate against him. The judgment notes that between April and November 2009, five banks — the State Bank of India, the Bank of India, the Bank of Baroda, the United Bank of India and United Commercial Bank — extended loans to Kingfisher Airlines totaling ₹1,250 crore, leaving a shortfall of ₹750 crore from the desired infusion of ₹2,000 crore. In the judgment handed down on Monday, the High Court judges upheld the December 2018 extradition order of the Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London and accepted that there is a prima facie case both of misrepresentation and of conspiracy, and thus there is also a prima facie case of money laundering.