NEW DELHI: Fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya is unlikely to be extradited anytime soon with the UK government on Thursday saying that there is a legal issue that needs to be resolved before his extradition can be arranged.
NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: Liquor baron Vijay Mallya, whose appeal against extradition was denied by the UK Supreme Court last month, cannot be extradited unless a confidential, legal issue is resolved, sources in the British government said on Thursday. The UK government statement hints at a possible delay in Mallya’s extradition, who is accused of defaulting bank loans worth over RS 9,000 crore and fleeing the country. Sources in the British High Commission said that a person cannot be extradited until the ‘legal issue’ is solved but refused to elaborate on it.
However, they said, the matter is being dealt swiftly and efforts are on to resolve it as quickly as possible. According to British Extradition law, an individual must be extradited within 28 days of a court order but cannot be extradited if the individual has made an asylum claim and that has not been settled. When questioned, sources in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said it was unclear if Mallya had applied for asylum in the UK.
The liquor baron was on May 15 denied permission to appeal his extradition in the Supreme Court of the UK against a high court order which upheld his extradition order. In Bengaluru, central investigating agencies insisted that “all legal hurdles against the extradition of Mallya have been cleared and there is nothing pending from our side.” “Our extradition request is before the UK government. It is a sovereign country and it is up to them to decide when they will send him to India to face trial.
So far, we have not received any communication on the matter from that country,” a senior ED officer said. The CBI and the ED are investigating the case of fraud and money laundering against Mallya. The former owner of United Spirits and founder of the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines has been living in London ever since he left India in March 2016. The opposition has been demanding his extradition for quite sometime.