MC View | SC order bolsters India’s case for Vijay Mallya extradition

Vijay Mallya is convicted of contempt of court.

Vijay Mallya left India on March 2, 2016. Since then, the liquor king has been fighting a hard legal battle with Indian government and central of agencies alleging bias, witch-hunt and denial of involvement in financial fraud.

Banks have recovered part of what Mallya owed to them through asset sales. But it isn’t just loan default, the former Kingfisher airline boss is wanted for financial fraud that includes diversion of bank money for unstated activities and repeated contempt of court. India has been pushing for Mallya’s extradition but UK courts aren’t convinced yet. They cite a ‘confidential legal issue’ concerning Mallya and give no commitment on the timeframe for release.

On July 11, the Supreme Court awarded a four-month jail term and Rs 2,000 fine for the fugitive businessman in a 2017 contempt of court case. Also, the court asked Mallya to return $40 million (around Rs 316 crore) with 8 percent interest within four weeks. The court is upset with Mallya’s absence in hearings and non-filing of replies and feels Mallya has been given adequate opportunity.

This is probably the first instance when the Indian apex court has ordered to put Mallya behind the bars ever since the legal battle started in 2016. The whole case also morphed into a hot political-diplomatic issue pushing the Indian authorities to engage with their British counterparts at the highest level.

So, what does this ruling mean for Mallya? Admit it, there isn’t anything the Indian authorities could do to Mallya immediately as the tycoon’s extradition case is still stuck at the UK Court but the ruling indeed adds more firepower to India’s case for bringing Mallya back home.

“This is something that may even bolster India’s case for extradition because if somebody is not complying with orders right to the Supreme Court and making a case for himself, that may be taken to be an aggravating factor that the extradition appeal court might bear in mind while passing the final order,” said Bharat Chugh, former judge and advocate at the Supreme Court of India.

As per Shobhit Sharma of legal firm AnantLaw, it is likely that India may seek early extradition to serve the sentence and on the other hand Mallya may claim violation of principles of natural justice and bias. Whichever way, an immediate resolution of the case looks less likely.