UK High Court to hear Vijay Mallya's plea against extradition on July 2

Embattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya has been allocated July 2 as the date for a brief hearing to convince a High Court judge that he should be given permission to proceed to a full-blown appeal process against his extradition 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 "renewal application" earlier this month after he failed in his first written attempt seeking leave to appeal in the High Court. The renewal involves a short oral hearing before a High Court judge, now scheduled for July 2, where his lawyers will further plead his case against being extradited to India.

"A date for the oral consideration has been set for July 2," a UK court official said on Friday.

UK home secretary Sajid Javid had signed off on a Westminster Magistrates' Court order for Mallya to be extradited to face the Indian courts back in February.

Mallya then filed an application for permission to appeal against that decision in the High Court, which was refused by Justice William Davis, giving him a week to apply for oral consideration via a renewal application.

"Once a renewal application is made, it will be listed before a High Court judge and dealt with at a hearing," said a UK Judiciary spokesperson.

On July 2, Mallya's legal team and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) arguing on behalf of the Indian government will go head to head to reiterate factors for and against the businessman's extradition to Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai. A High Court judge must now decide following the oral consideration if Mallya's appeal can proceed to a full hearing.

It will mark one of the final stages of the appeals process in the UK as the chances of permission to appeal to the Supreme Court are unlikely if permission to appeal is denied at the High Court stage.

Mallya would have the option to approach the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) based in Strasbourg, France, to argue against his extradition to India on human rights grounds by trying to prove a real threat of harm or torture.

Meanwhile, the businessman remains on bail on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard in April 2017. At the end of a year-long extradition trial at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London last December, Judge Emma Arbuthnot had ruled that the flashy billionaire had a case to answer in the Indian courts.

The court had also dismissed any bars to extradition on the grounds of the prison conditions under which the businessman would be held, as the judge accepted the Indian government's assurances that he would receive all necessary medical care at Barrack 12 in Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail.

Who's lying? PM Modi or PSU banks? Vijay Mallya takes swipe at NDA govt

A day after a UK judge refused to dismiss an order freezing nearly 260,000 pounds ($337,730) in one of his London bank accounts, embattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya on Thursday questioned the SBI-led consortium of public sector banks pursuing him through the courts to recover dues they claim are owed to them.

In his latest Twitter intervention, the 63-year-old former Kingfisher Airlines boss made another reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's interview last month in which he had claimed that the government has recovered assets worth Rs 14,000 crores related to the now-defunct airline's loan defaults.

Mallya is wanted in India on charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to an alleged Rs 9,000 crores.

"None other than the Prime Minister of India specifically says in an interview that his government has recovered more money than I allegedly owe PSU Banks and the same banks claim otherwise in English courts," reads Mallya's Tweet.

"Who does one believe? One or the other is lying," he said.

 

View image on TwitterView image on TwitterView image on TwitterView image on Twitter

Vijay Mallya

✔

@TheVijayMallya

 SBI Lawyers in U.K. making presentations on their accomplishments against me. Indian Tax payers cost. Despite full recovery in India confirmed by the Prime Minister himself.

His statement came hours after Master David Cook, a judge in the Queen's Bench Division of the Royal Courts of Justice in London, ruled on Wednesday that an interim debt order in favour of SBI and other banks seeking access to funds in Mallya's ICICI UK bank account "should remain in force".

However, the application to make it final has been adjourned until after the hearing of Mallya's pending bankruptcy petition, expected by the end of this year.

The funds held in the account 258,559.79 pounds will meanwhile remain frozen as part of the worldwide freezing order in favour of the Indian banks last year.

I feel sorry to see Jet Airways on the brink of failure: Vijay Mallya

Embattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya on Wednesday took to social media once again, this time to express his solidarity with Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal and repeat his own offer to repay all the money he owes to India's public sector banks.

The 63-year-old, fighting his extradition to India on charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to an alleged Rs 9,000 crores, claims private airlines were discriminated against by the Indian government, which bailed out state-owned Air India but did not assist his own Kingfisher Airlines and now Jet Airways.

Even though Jet was a major competitor to Kingfisher at the time I feel sorry to see such a large private airline on the brink of failure when government used 35K crores (Rs 35,000 crores) of public funds to bail out Air India. Just being a PSU is no excuse for discrimination, Mallya wrote in his latest intervention on Twitter.

He added: I invested hugely into Kingfisher which rapidly grew to become India's largest and most awarded airline. True, Kingfisher borrowed from PSU Banks as well. I have offered to pay back 100 per cent but am being criminally charged instead. Airline Karma?

The former Kingfisher Airlines boss took yet another swipe at the media as well, claiming every offer he makes to pay back funds owed by his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines to PSU banks resulted in reports that claim he is spooked, terrified etc of being extradited from the UK back to India.

I am willing to pay either way whether I am in London or in an Indian Jail. Why don't Banks take the money I offered first, he questioned.

On a more personal note directed at Jet Airways founder Goyal and his wife Neeta, the UB Group chief expressed his sympathy for the troubles being faced by the cash-strapped private airline, which has been forced to cancel a string of flights amid a mounting crisis.

"Even though we were fierce competitors, my sympathies go out to Naresh and Neeta Goyal who built Jet Airways that India should be extremely proud of. Fine Airline providing vital connectivity and class service. Sad that so many Airlines have bitten the dust in India. Why, Mallya questioned.

Mallya remains on bail as he awaits an oral hearing to be listed by the UK High Court for his appeal against his extradition ordered by Westminster Magistrates' Court in London last December and then signed off by UK home secretary Sajid Javid in February.

A first level of that written appeal has already been rejected by the High Court, where it will now be considered during a brief hearing to determine any grounds to grant permission for Mallya's appeal to proceed to appeal substantive hearing.

The businessman faces a series of unrelated legal battles in the UK courts, including a USD 40-million claim brought by drinks giant Diageo and an attempt by Swiss bank UBS to repossess his posh London home overlooking Regent's Park.

Meanwhile, a State Bank of India (SBI) led consortium of 13 Indian banks continue their attempt to enforce a worldwide freezing order upheld by the UK High Court in May last year through a number of follow up court orders to try and recoup some of the GBP 1.145 billion owed to them.

Will Nirav Modi, Mallya share same jail cell in Mumbai if extradited?

There was some light-hearted moments at the UK court Friday when Judge Emma Arbuthnot hearing the second bail plea of Nirav Modi asked the prosecution whether the fugitive diamantaire would be lodged in the same jail cell along with Vijay Mallya if he is also extradited to India.

The 48-year-old diamond merchant is wanted in India for alleged "high value and sophisticated" fraud and money laundering amounting to $ 2 billion.

At the very start of the hearing, Westminster Magistrates Court Chief Magistrate Arbuthnot said she was getting a sense of "deja vu", in reference to her having ordered the extradition of Mallya in December last year.

"Do we know which part of India he [Modi] is being sought in," the judge asked, to try and establish which jail Modi is likely to be held in.

She was told by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), arguing on behalf of the Indian government, that it would be an extradition to Mumbai and that he may in fact be held in the same Arthur Road Jail as that prepared for liquor tycoon Mallya, to which the judge said in a light-hearted vein that it could even be the same cell as we know "there is space" from the previous video submitted during the Mallya extradition trial.

India has informed the UK court that Mallya will be lodged in one of the high-security barracks located in a two-storey building inside the prison complex.

Authorities at the Arthur Road prison in Mumbai have kept a high security cell ready for Mallya if he is extradited from UK in connection with loan default cases against him in India.

Mallya, wanted in India on charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to around Rs 9,000 crore, has filed his application in the UK High Court, seeking permission to appeal against an extradition order signed by the British Home Secretary.

If extradited, 62-year-old Mallya will be lodged in the prison complex, which also housed 26/11 Mumbai attack terrorist Mohammad Ajmal Kasab.

An official from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs earlier said Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail was one of the best in the country.

His comments came after Judge Arbuthnot asked Indian authorities to submit a video of the Arthur Road Jail cell where they plan to keep Mallya following his extradition.

The official said adequate medical facilities were available to treat prisoners in Arthur Road Jail, where Mallya would get full security cover as an undertrial prisoner and it was highly secured in accordance with international standards.

The central government has already conducted an assessment of security cover given to prisoners in the Arthur Road Jail and its findings conveyed to the UK court.

In another throwback to the Mallya trial, Nirav Modi's defence team, led by barrister Clare Montgomery raised the issue of the state of the paperwork submitted by the Indian authorities, claiming it "made her cry" at one stage.

The judge concurred with her and was very firm about proper indexing of all documents to be submitted to the court in relation to the case.