Extradition Trial Of Fugitive Business Tycoon Vijay Mallya To Resume In UK Court
Mallya who has been in self-imposed exile in the UK since March 2016 when he left India, is wanted in India on charges relating to his defunct Kingfisher Airlines defaulting on loans from various Indian banks amounting to Rs 9,000 crore.
Vijay Mallya, who is out on a 650,000-pound bail bond over fraud and money laundering charges earlier this year, will return to Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on Monday as his extradition trial begins.
The 61-year-old businessman, who has been in self-imposed exile in the UK since March 2016 when he left India, is wanted in India on charges relating to his defunct Kingfisher Airlines defaulting on loans from various Indian banks amounting to Rs 9,000 crore.
AFP
The former Rajya Sabha member has claimed that he has "done nothing wrong" and described the allegations against him as "fabricated".
"We are keen to draw a line under all the material ¨C evidential and non-evidential," barrister Clare Montgomery said during the last case management hearing on November 20.
The trial is set to open with opening arguments, followed by the witness statement of Dr B Humphreys, who is an aviation expert.
Others expected to give their statements for the defence include Margaret Sweeney, chief accountant at Force India Formula One racing team, Professor Lau as an expert on the Indian legal system, and Dr Alan Mitchell, a licensed medical practitioner and a former medical officer with the Scottish prison system.
ALSO READ: British Court Hearing Vijay Mallya Case, Rejects Two Extradition Requests By Indian Authorities
AFP
At a previous hearing in the Mallya case, Chief Magistrate Emma Louise Arbuthnot had also highlighted prison conditions as a concern that has been "raised in extraditions to India before¡±.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), arguing on behalf of the Indian government, had told her that the Indian authorities have foreseen this as an issue and have been "engaged on the matter".
The CPS team, led by barrister Mark Summers who specializes in extradition cases, highlighted "excellent cooperation with the Indian authorities", who had provided detailed assurances and photographs by email relating to prison conditions where Mallya is to be held if he were to be extradited to India.
If the judge rules in favour of extradition at the end of the trial, UK home secretary Amber Rudd must order Mallya's extradition within two months. However, the case can go through a series of court appeals before the actual extradition order can be issued.
AFP
India and the UK have an Extradition Treaty dating back to 1992 but so far only one extradition has taken place from the UK to India under the arrangement, that of Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel wanted in connection with the post-Godhra riots of 2002. But, unlike Mallya, he had submitted to the extradition order without a legal challenge.
Mallya, who has been based at his Hertfordshire estate called Ladywalk in the village of Tewin, around 30 miles from London, had responded with a firm "no" on being formally asked in court if he consented to be extradited to India on the charges relating to his collapsed Kingfisher Airlines.
ALSO READ: India Seeks Extradition Of Vijay Mallya, Lalit Modi, And Twelve Other Fugitives From The UK
