UK court denies Mallya's plea against extradition

A UK High Court judge has denied embattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya permission to appeal against his extradition order to India to face alleged fraud and money laundering charges amounting to Rs 9,000 crores.

The 63-year-old former Kingfisher Airlines boss had filed the application in the High Court after UK home secretary Sajid Javid signed off on a Westminster Magistrates’ Court order for his extradition to face the Indian courts back in February.

"The application for permission to appeal was refused by Mr Justice William Davis on 05/04/2019," said a spokesperson for the UK judiciary.

"The appellant (Mallya) has five business days to apply for oral consideration. If a renewal application is made, it will be listed before a High Court judge and dealt with at a hearing," the spokesperson said.

The application seeking “leave to appeal” had been passed on to a single judge, who was to make a decision on the basis of papers submitted as part of the application. Now that the “judge on papers” application has been rejected by Judge Davis, Mallya has the option to submit for a “renewal”.

The renewal process will lead to a brief oral hearing during which Mallya's legal team and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) – on behalf of the Indian government – will renew their respective claims for and against an appeal for a judge to determine if it can proceed to a full hearing.

Mallya has been based in the UK since March 2016 and remains on bail on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard in April 2017.

In her verdict at the end of a year-long extradition trial in December last year, Judge Emma Arbuthnot had ruled that the "flashy" billionaire had a "case to answer" in the Indian courts.