The fresh arrest warrant against businessman Vijay Mallya on money laundering charge is a sign that India’s push for his extradition from the United Kingdom has gained more weight, according to investigating agencies.
Mr. Mallya was arrested in London for the second time on Tuesday on the basis of a charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act before a Mumbai court on June 14, against him and eight other accused. The directorate has already shared the relevant documents with the U.K. authorities for inclusion in the extradition proceedings.
The ED, in a statement, said Mr. Mallya had been arrested in pursuance of the fresh extradition request sent by the directorate for facing trial in the case. “A fresh application for his extradition was routed through the Ministry of External Affairs, which has since been filed before the court concerned in London, through the Crown Prosecution Service, U.K. The matter came up for hearing on Tuesday…He is already facing extradition proceedings in the U.K. in a criminal case of CBI,” said the ED.
Mr. Mallya’s arrest on money laundering charges is significant for two reasons, said an official. First, the official said, this meant that the U.K.’s Crown Prosecution Service had taken note of the ED documents that pertain to a comprehensive probe into all the alleged wilful defaults involving funds of over ₹9,000 crore.
The extradition proceedings were initiated on the basis of a charge sheet filed by the CBI in just one case connected to IDBI Bank, which involved about ₹900 crore.
Overarching FIR
Another overarching FIR registered by the CBI in August 2016 against Mr. Mallya and others, of allegedly causing a loss of ₹6,027 crore to a State Bank of India-led consortium of banks, could not be included in the extradition request at that stage as a charge sheet had not been filed in the case.
“Second, money laundering is also recognised as a criminal offence in both the countries, fulfilling the requirement of ‘dual criminality’ as per the India-UK Extradition Treaty (1993) and therefore, the charge will be clubbed with those invoked by the CBI, thereby further strengthening the case against him before the UK court,” said the official.
Another official said the move would also ensure that when Mr. Mallya gets extradited, he is prosecuted in both the cases of the CBI and the ED. As part of the money laundering probe, the Directorate has so far attached assets worth over ₹9,900 crore.
