Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday hailed the United Kingdom court’s decision in favour of India’s request for the extradition of businessman Vijay Mallya, terming it a great day for the country.
“Great Day for India. No one who cheats India will go scot-free. The Judgment of UK's Court is welcome. An offender benefited during the UPA. The NDA brings him to book,” Mr. Jaitley tweeted.
Mr. Jaitley later targeted the Congress, stating that the party and its president should introspect “for every falsehood he has spoken on the subject.”
He said the loans to Mr. Mallya were given during the UPA period.
“Though ostensibly only banks give these loans, but here important institutions had intervened to allow a second restructuring to the delinquent borrower and it was as a result of the second restructuring to the liquid borrower that he was able to get a lot of money out of the banking system and not pay anybody back,” he told ANI.
Union Minister Suresh Prabhu tweeted: “After #ChristianMichel, it’s the turn of #VijayMallya ... Under PM @narendramodi ji's leadership it’s proved that no one who cheats India will go scot-free. The UK court order is a great victory for our govt’s relentless efforts.”
Aked about the government’s response, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said: “Why is that a major victory? The farmers of this country are committing suicide daily. They do not have access to the Indian banking system. Vijay Mallya stole ₹9,000 crore. Nirav Modi has stolen ₹35,000 crore with his friend Mehul Choksi, who are close to the Prime Minister… and the list goes on.”
“So it’s not that question of Vijay Mallya being extradited, it’s the question of the Indian banking system being handed over to Mr. Modi’s friends. It is called crony capitalism,” said Mr. Gandhi, wondering why the Prime Minister was not talking about the Rafale deal when it came to corruption.
For its part, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) welcomed the U.K. court’s decision. “We hope to bring him soon and conclude the case. The CBI has its own inherent strength. We worked hard on this case. We are strong on law and facts and we were confident while pursuing the extradition process,” said CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal.
Mr. Mallya, then a Rajya Sabha member, had flown out of the country on a diplomatic passport to the UK in March 2016. India submitted its extradition request on February 9, 2017. Over a month later, an arrest warrant was issued and he was arrested on April 18, 2017, after which he was granted conditional bail.
