Amid the blame game between two national parties that under whose watch Mallya managed to take Indian banks for a ride before absconding the country, a London Court has ruled in favour of his extradition. This has come as a win for Indian establishment who had up the anti against economic offences.
Vijay Mallya's extradition would be a big confident booster and an achieved goal for the government with the elections approaching soon.
Senior District Judge Emma Arbuthnot ruled on Monday that there was a case to be answered and referred it to the home secretary to decide whether or not Mallya should be extradited.
India wants to bring criminal action against Vijay Mallya, whose businesses have ranged from aviation to liquor, over $1.4 billion in advances Kingfisher took out from Indian banks which the experts contend he had no goal of reimbursing.
India should try to get more charges included for which Malya should be extradited to India. The problem with an extradition is that the accused can only be tried for the offence for which he has been extradited. No other offences can be pinned on him to implicate him in any other case whatsoever.
This makes things very straight and complicated for the in house agencies. A strong case must be built to incriminate him and set an example for the other two offenders namely the Mehul Choksey and Nirav Modi.
Mallya must be extradited from the UK to deal with indictments of defrauding banks and redirecting funds abroad. The Indian government should, in reality, exert to bring Mallya as and the other two absconders, Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi, back to stand. Fugitive Economic Offenders Act has been put in place that enables the administration to impound the properties and assets of such people who abscond from the Indian law.
Kingfisher Airlines promoted by Mallya owes over Rs 9,000 crore to banks, who may have every reason to declare him a wilful defaulter. The lavish lifestyle he has led and flaunted, in a country where farmers with even a few lakh rupees of unpaid debts are driven to suicide, had also made him the poster boy for the worst of Indian capitalism.
