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■ Fraud and criminal conspiracy
■ Charges of money laundering
■ Loans to Kingfisher Airlines diverted to foreign countries
■ Over ₹9,000 crore owed to multiple banks by Kingfisher Airlines
■ Fled the country without returning the money owed to the consortium of banks led by SBI
■ Among the 11 named in the CBI chargesheet
Industrialist Vijay Mallya has been granted bail after being arrested in London on Tuesday morning, and is due to appear in court next month.
“Officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Extradition Unit have arrested a man on an extradition warrant,” a Scotland Yard statement said, adding that he had been arrested on behalf of Indian authorities in relation to accusations of fraud. “He was arrested after attending a central London police station.”
India began formal proceedings earlier this year to extradite Mallya, who is wanted in connection with a number of charges, including defaulting on bank loans amounting to ₹9,000 crore. While there is an acknowledgement that the extradition is up to the UK court system, sources previously said they believed there was also political will to support the process. While no one had been extradited to India under the first 23 years of the India-UK Extradition Treaty of 1993, Britain last year extradited Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel, who was wanted by India in relation to the 2002 Gujarat riots, leading to hopes for future successful extradition requests. During his visit to London earlier this year, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley highlighted the seriousness with which India took the issue of defaulters, without making a direct reference to Mallya.
The issue is also understood to have figured in discussions he had with Prime Minister Theresa May and Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond during his visit.
While Britain faces political uncertainty, with a general election to be held on June 8, the extradition proceedings, which are now in the judicial system, are unlikely to be impacted by any changes to Britain’s political leadership.
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