NEW DELHI: India’s request for extradition of beleaguered liquor baron Vijay Mallya for defaulting on multi-crore bank loans here has entered UK’s legal system and is awaiting a district court’s approval for issuance of his arrest warrant.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday that the request has been approved by the Britain’s Secretary of State. India had handed over a formal extradition request on Feb. 8.
“The UK Home Office, London, vide their Note Verbale dated Feb. 21, 2017 has conveyed that the request has been certified by the Secretary of State and sent to Westminster Magistrates’ Court or a District Judge to consider issuing an arrest warrant,” MEA spokesperson Gopal Baglay said in his statement.
Mallya, who earned the moniker of “the King of good times”, owes over `8,000 crore to Indian public sector banks. So far, the banks have been able to recover only a fraction of it. According to the Finance Ministry, Mallya has an outstanding loan of `8,000 crore and the banks have recovered `155 crore by auctioning his seized property.
With the government showing the willingness to go after him, the owner of the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines had offered to negotiate a one-time settlement on the loan default.