Former liquor baron Vijay Mallya will get one more shot at appealing against his extradition to India but it could, for all purposes, be delaying the inevitable.

Though the UK courts are not known to be swayed by political considerations, Mallya can go ahead and appeal before the Supreme Court within the next 14 days. “But the Supreme Court would only interfere if there is a substantial question of law. And that is not the case here,” Anandaday Misshra, Founder and managing director of the legal firm, Amlegals, told BusinessLine .

He said if Mallya prefers that appeal, that period would be waited for and the UK Home Secretary is expected to formally certify the court order for Mallya to be extradited to India within 28 days.

Mallya lost the extradition case in the senior courts of England and Wales after Lord Justice Stephen Irwin and Justice Elisabeth Laing, the two-member bench, dismissed the appeal in a judgment handed down remotely due to the current coronavirus lockdown.

Mallya fled India in March 2016 and since then the Indian government has been fighting a long-drawn legal battle to get him back to the country. Mallya has been accused of money laundering and fraud and has been declared a fugitive by courts here. He also owes a consortium of banks, including State Bank of India, a total of ₹9,000 crore including interest.

Mallya, on his part, has been denying any wrongdoings and has repeatedly pleaded with the government to allow him to pay back the amount if the courts rule the banks to release the pledged shares and the seized properties.

Vijay Belavadi, a founding partner with a legal firm, BRK Law Partners, said Mallya will have to prove to the higher court that his extradition is wrong in law. He has repeatedly told the courts that he has enough properties in India and if he is allowed to sell them off, he can square off the loan. “He has the right to approach the courts of appeal in London. Unless Mallya and his lawyers are able to show that there is gross illegality in the extradition order or alternative that he sees a threat to his life in India, the court might cancel the order which at present looks highly unlikely now,” Belavadi said.

Once Mallya gets extradited, he will be immediately taken to the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai where a cell has been allotted to him as per the written submission made by the CBI to the London courts. As per the submission made to the courts there, Mallya will be lodged at the high-security Barrack no 12 which is fitted with western commode. Each prisoner is given a mattress, a pillow, a bedsheet, a tumbler and two bowls.

Mallya has been accused of using the loan to buy yachts, a cricket team and an F1 racing team among others to lead a lavish lifestyle. He also owes money to various entities, including Diageo, to which he sold of United Spirits in November 2012. He recently lost a case against the Swiss bank, UBS for non-payment of £20.4 million worth mortgages for a 12-bedroom townhouse in London overlooking Regent Park.

A court recently allowed him to refinance the property if he paid ₹200 crore to the bank. In another case, Diageo won a $135-million suit against him after it filed a case against him and his son for repayment of $40 million for breach of contract and another $135 million that it had refinanced for Mallya’s company Watson.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW