Vijay Mallya files appeal against extradition order to India

 Vijay Mallya on Monday filed an application seeking leave to appeal in UK Supreme Court, exactly two weeks after embattled liquor baron lost his London High Court appeal against an extrition order to India on charges of fraud and money laundering related to unrecovered loans to his w-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. 64-year-old businessman h 14 days to file this application to seek permission to move higher court on High Court judgment from April 20, which dismissed his appeal against a Westminster Magistrates' Court extrition order certified by UK Home Secretary.

" leave to appeal has been filed. We have until May 14 to respond,” said a spokesperson for UK Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which represents Indian authorities in legal process of extrition. leave to appeal to Supreme Court is on a point of law of general public importance, which according to experts is a very high threshold that is t often met." High Court effectively ruled that even if approach of Chief Magistrate was wrong, her decision was t wrong. It is refore clear that Mallya w faces a significant hurdle in getting it to Supreme Court,” tes Toby Cman, co-founder of Guernica 37 International Justice Chambers and an extrition specialist.

As a furr step, in principle, Mallya can also apply to European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to prevent his extrition on basis that he will t receive a fair trial and that he will be detained in conditions that breach Article 3 of European Convention on Human Rights, to which UK is a signatory. threshold for an ECHR appeal is also extremely high, with very limited chance of success in Mallya’s case because he would also have to demonstrate that his arguments on those grounds before UK courts have been previously rejected. refore, dismissal of High Court appeal last month marked a major turning point for Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) case against businessman, who has been on bail in UK since his arrest on an extrition warrant in April 2017."We have held re is a prima facie case both of misrepresentation and of conspiracy, and thus re is also a prima facie case of money laundering,” Lord Justice Stephen Irwin and Justice Elisabeth Laing, two-member bench at Royal Courts of Justice in London presiding over appeal, h ruled last month.

Mallya h expressed his disappointment at ruling and indicated plans for furr “legal remedies” and also challenged alleged Rs 9,000 crore figure of unpaid loans to India’s state-owned banks led by State Bank of India (CBI).“I am disappointed with media narrative which states that I must face trial in India for a fraud of Rs 9,000 crores. Please te that allegations against me and ors are specifically and only related to three tranches of borrowing from IDBI Bank for a total of Rs 900 crores in 2009,” he said.“I have repeatedly offered to repay banks in full, but sly to avail,” he said.

Mallya, declared a fugitive by India, has been based in UK since March 2016 and remains on bail on an extrition warrant executed three years ago by Scotland Yard on April 18, 2017. High Court verdict upheld 2018 ruling by Chief Magistrate Emma Arbutht at end of a year-long extrition trial in December 2018 that “flashy” former Kingfisher Airlines boss h a “case to answer” in Indian courts.She found re was “clear evidence of dispersal and misapplication of loan funds” and accepted a prima facie case of fraud and a conspiracy to launder money against Mallya, which has w also been accepted by High Court.

Chief Magistrate h also dismissed any bars to extrition on grounds of prison conditions under which businessman would be held, as she accepted Indian government’s assurances that he would receive all necessary medical care behind bars at Barrack 12 in Arthur Ro Jail in Mumbai.India and UK have an Extrition Treaty signed in 1992 and in force since vember 1993. Two major extritions have taken place under this Treaty so far – Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel, who was sent back to India in 2016 to face trial in connection with his involvement in post-Godhra riots of 2002, and more recently alleged bookie Sanjeev Chawla, sent back in February this year to face match-fixing charges.