A joint team of CBI and ED has left for the UK to attend the court proceedings
A joint team of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) led by CBI Joint Director A Sai Manohar has left for the United Kingdom on Sunday to attend the court proceedings on India’s request seeking extradition of embattled business tycoon and former Kingfisher Airlines boss Vijay Mallya.
The Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on Monday will deliver its verdict on whether Mallya who holds UK citizenship can be extradited to India to face charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to Rs 9,000 crore. He is in self-imposed exile in London.
Manohar will take the place of Special Director Rakesh Asthana, who had been attending the trial till now. The Government had sent Asthana on forced leave, divesting him of all powers after he and CBI Director Alok Verma entered in a bitter feud.
Manohar is part of the SIT earlier headed by Asthana.
Mallya, 62, wanted in India on alleged fraud and money laundering charges, has been on bail since his arrest on an extradition warrant in April last year.
The amount outstanding against Mallya has been mentioned as over Rs 9,000 crore, but the case documents mention the alleged dishonest obtaining of loans “in the amounts of Rs 1,500 million, Rs 2,000 million and Rs 7,500 million during October and November 2009”.
Officials said Monday’s judgement may or may not be on the lines expected in New Delhi, but even if judge Emma Arbuthnot rules that there are no legal bars to his extradition and recommends it to the home secretary, Mallya (and India) will have opportunities to appeal in higher courts.
Besides, since India and the United Kingdom signed an extradition treaty in 1993, several key individuals have been sought by India, such as Nadeem Saifi (Gulshan Kumar murder case), Ravi Sankaran (navy war room leak), Tiger Hanif (1993 Gujarat blasts), but none were followed so closely as the flamboyant Mallya’s case.
He has contested his extradition on the grounds that the case against him is “politically motivated” and the loans he has been accused of defrauding on were sought to keep his now-defunct airline afloat.
“I did not borrow a single rupee. The borrower was Kingfisher Airlines. Money was lost due to a genuine and sad business failure. Being held as guarantor is not fraud,” he said in his recent Twitter post on the issue.
“I have offered to repay 100 per cent of the principal amount to them. Please take it,” he tweeted earlier. While dismissing that his intervention has anything to do with the extradition case, it came just days before Judge Emma is expected to present her ruling in the case.
The trial, which opened at the Magistrates’ Court on December 4 last year, has gone through a series of hearings beyond the initial seven days earmarked for it. It opened with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) team, led by Mark Summers, laying out the Indian government’s prima facie case of fraud and money laundering against Mallya.