All Options Exhausted, Mallya Offers To Repay 100% Dues

By Poonam Joshi

Embattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya has been refused permission to appeal to the UK’s highest court against a ruling to extradite him from the United Kingdom to India to face charges of defrauding a consortium of Indian banks of more than Rs 1,100 crore.

The application was filed weeks after the High Court in London — the UK’s second-highest court — dismissed Mallya’s appeal against a lower court ruling that he should be sent to India to face charges of defrauding a consortium of Indian banks relating to the collapse of Kingfisher Airlines in 2012.

In his appeal to the High Court, Mallya’s lawyers had argued that the Indian government had failed to prove a prima facie case against their client and raised a number of issues with the decision made in 2018 by Judge Emma Arbuthnot at Westminster Magistrate’s Court in London.

Earlier in the day, ahead of today’s decision, Mallya urged the central government to accept his offer to repay 100 per cent of his loan dues and close the case against him.

“Congratulations to the government for a COVID-19 relief package. They can print as much currency as they want but should a small contributor like me who offers 100% payback of state-owned bank loans be constantly ignored? Please take my money unconditionally and close,” he tweeted.

Following this latest setback for Mallya, his options have been limited to appealing to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for an injunction to prevent his removal to India.

If he does not move the ECHR, he will have to be repatriated to India within 28 days of today’s ruling.

(ANI)