The delayed extradition hearing of wanted tycoon Vijay Mallya is set to take place on Tuesday afternoon at Westminster Magistrates Court, in London. Mallya was arrested by the Metropolitan Police on an extradition warrant in April after India launched formal proceedings earlier this year.
He is wanted in connection with a number of charges, including defaulting on bank loans amounting to ₹9,000 crore. He was granted bail following the payment of a bond worth £650,000.
While no one had been extradited to India under the first 23 years of the India-UK Extradition Treaty of 1993, Britain last year extradited Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel, who was wanted by India in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots, leading to hopes for future successful extradition requests. During his visit to London earlier this year, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley highlighted the seriousness with which India was taking the issue of defaulters, without making a direct reference to Mallya.
While the 2016 extradition may add to hopes that the extradition of Mallya could be successful, much uncertainty remains. The India-UK Extradition Treaty, signed in September 1992 and in force from November 15, 1993, allows for a number of circumstances for a person not to be extradited. These include when the court is satisfied that a case was being pursued on the grounds of race, religion, nationality or public opinion, or the accusations were not made in good faith in the interests of justice, or were “trivial in nature”.
Extradition request
To be successful, an extradition request would have to show that the charge over which the person was being pursued would be an offence in Britain punishable with imprisonment for at least one year, and in keeping with the European Convention on Human Rights. The court’s decision is appealable. Should the court accept the Indian government’s case, an order for extradition would come from the Secretary of State for the Home Office.
The hearing on Tuesday is likely provide a signal of the court’s approach to the case, and whether it accepts the Indian case prima facie, and if it will seek further guarantees from India, such as on prison conditions, his personal safety, sources familiar with the matters said.
Public appearances
Mallya has made a number of public appearances in London in recent months, including over the weekend when he was jeered while attending the India-South Africa ICC Championship match at the Oval.
A prolific Twitter user he has occasionally taken to social media to comment on the passage of the extradition attempt. In April, he played down the significance of his arrest and confiscation of his passport, as part of the normal course of extradition proceedings.