UK home secretary clears Vijaya Mallya's extradition to India; fugitive liquor baron has 14 days to appeal against order

UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid has ordered fugitive liquor baron Vijaya Mallya’s extradition to India, PTI said. Mallya is wanted in India for alleged fraud and money laundering charges amounting to an estimated Rs 9,000 crores. [caption id=“attachment_4863541” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Vijay Mallya. Reuters[/caption] Last year in December, Westminster Magistrates’ Court Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot had ruled in favour of extradition of Mallya. The chief magistrate’s verdict was then sent to UK home secretary because it is the minister who is authorised to order Mallya’s extradition. Javid had two months to make that decision. The deadline was set to expire in five days. According to a UK Home office spokesperson, the UK Secretary of State signed on the Mallya’s extradition to India on 3 February under the UK-India extradition treaty. However, with the UK Home Secretary signing on the extradition order, Mallya can finally make an appeal against the order. Mallaya, according to the UK Home Office spokesperson, has 14 days to apply for leave to appeal. Earlier, Mallya had claimed his group’s properties worth over Rs 13,000 crore have been attached, more than the ‘claimed’ Rs 9,000 crore that he “ran away with” asking where is justice and how far will it go. In a series of tweets, Mallya had also claimed that the banks to which he owes money “have given an open licence to their Lawyers in England to pursue multiple frivolous litigations against” him questioning the “brazen” spending of “public money on legal fees”. “Every morning I wake up to yet another attachment by the DRT (debt recovery tribunal) recovery officer. Value already crossed (Rs) 13,000 crore. Banks claim dues including all interest of (Rs) 9,000 crore which is subject to review. How far will this go and well beyond? Justified??”, Mallya tweeted. He further said the DRT recovery officer recently attached his group’s assets worth over Rs 13,000 crore in India on behalf of the consortium of banks. “Yet the narrative is that I ran away with the claimed amount of (Rs) 9,000 crore causing loss to the public sector banks. Where is Justice or fair play?” he asked. In the past, Mallya had stated that he intended to file an application to appeal against a British court’s verdict. With inputs from PTI