Fugitive business tycoon Vijay Mallya was denied permission to appeal to the UK Supreme Court of Thursday against a High Court order that upheld a 2018 ruling to extradite him to India to face fraud charges.
With this decision, Mallya’s legal option to challenge his extradition order comes to an end. As per the India-UK Extradition Treaty, the UK Home Office of Minister Priti Patel is now expected to formally certify the court order for Vijay Mallya to be extradited to India within 28 days.
The 64-year-old controversial businessman took over Rs 9,000 crore in loans from banks which the authorities argue he had no intention of repaying.
Earlier, the embattled liquor baron lost his High Court appeal in London on April 20 against his extradition order to India over charges of fraud and money laundering, involving his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, amounting to an alleged Rs 9,000 crores.
Earlier in the day, while congratulating the Indian government for the Rs 20 lakh crore economic package announced on Tuesday, Vijay Mallya lamented that his repeated offers to repay his dues have been ignored by them.
“Congratulations to the Government for a COVID-19 relief package. They can print as much currency as they want BUT should a small contributor like me who offers 100% payback of State-owned Bank loans be constantly ignored?” he said in a tweet.
Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, is under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), and Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for loan defaults of over Rs 10,000 crore to a consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI).