As reported by TOI, London High Court allows tycoon Vijay Mallya to appeal against his extradition order as no prima facie case is made out against him.
Of the five arguments made by Mallya’s lawyer, judges accepted only one — that no prima facie case of fraud and money laundering was made out against the Vijay Mallya.
Background:
A Single Judge Bench comprising of Senior District Judge (the Chief Magistrate) Emma Arbuthnot accepted the Government of India’s (GoI) extradition request for tycoon Vijay Mallya to face trial on charges of fraud and money laundering.
The Court considered the vast evidence placed on record by GoI and relying on the case of Devani v. Republic of Kenya, [2015] EWHC 3535 opined that there was a prima facie case that the funds loaned by Indian banks to Mallya were misused. A number of email trails were relied on to rule that he had misrepresented his net worth to the banks.
It was further held that there was a prima facie case of a conspiracy to defraud which involved not just the Kingfisher Airlines executives but also some bankers. There was clear evidence of misapplication of loan funds and thus there was a prima facie case of conspiracy to launder money was found against Mallya. [Govt. of India v. Vijay Mallya, decided on 10-12-2018]
Also Read:
Sajid Javid the UK Home Secretary signed the extradition order of Vijay Mallya on 04-02-2019.
[Source: ToI]
