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UK high court judgement on Mallya extradition appeal today
Mallya’s appeal was heard over three days in February, when lawyers on both sides sparred over details of the case.
The high court of England and Wales is due to deliver its judgement on Monday on controversial businessman Vijay Mallya’s appeal against his extradition to India to face charges financial offences worth around Rs 9000 crores.
The judgement by Justice Irwin and Justice Elisabeth Laing will be handed down at 10.30 am UK time by email. The ruling marks an advanced stage in the extradition case that began with Mallya’s arrest in 2017 and hearings in the magistrates court and the high court.
Mallya’s appeal was heard over three days in February, when lawyers on both sides sparred over details of the case. The Crown Prosecution Service representing India accused his Kingfisher Airlines of “absolute and outrageous lies” while seeking bank loans, and Mallya’s lawyer alleging “a series of errors” in India’s case.
According to Mark Summers of CPS, Mallya and Kingfisher Airlines submitted “absolute and outrageous lies” about projections of profitability and loss while applying to IDBI and SBI for loans in 2009, a proposition disputed by Mallya’s lawyer Claire Montgomery.
Summers quoted from emails, witness statements, brand valuations, business case projections and thousands of other documents to reiterate to the judges the government of India’s primary charges of conspiracy and substantive fraud against Mallya.
He insisted that chief judge Emma Arbuthnot of the Westminster Magistrates Court was correct in her ruling that there is a prima facie case against Mallya, for which he needs to be extradited to India to face trial.
“Profitability of the company was knowingly fudged (in loan applications), wildly untrue and patently dishonest claims were made on projections of the company’s profits and loss. Promises of equity to be infused were liberally made that never came. A honest person would have presented accurate picture to banks”, Summers said.
India’s case rests on what has been mentioned as “three chapters of dishonesty” by Mallya—misrepresentations to various banks to acquire loans, the misuse of the loans and his conduct after the banks recalled the loans.
Summers cited in this regard issues related to the Kingfisher villa in Goa, the claimed Rs 3000 crore brand value of Kingfisher when a consultancy that had valued it at half that figure was not submitted to banks, an aircraft bought allegedly for Mallya’s personal use, and the “siphoning off” of funds to trusts reportedly controlled by his children.
“There is at least a case to answer”, he told the judges, insisting that a reasonable jury at trial could conclude that Mallya and his company indulged in conspiracy, fraud, and used loans for unintended purposes, including part of the loans going to his motor racing team.
Summers noted that in extradition cases, British courts are solely required to establish whether the person requested has a prima facie case to answer, not to establish the truth and arrive at a conviction.
Montgomery, on the other hand, has insisted that Mallya’s inability to repay bank loans was due to a genuine business failure and the result of wider challenges facing the aviation industry at the time.
