Amid reports that the Serious Frauds Office (SFO) of the UK. has launched formal investigations against now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines owner Vijay Mallya on money laundering charges, Indian agencies are apprehensive that the move may delay his extradition.
The SFO is said to have started probing the suspected illicit routing of funds through various companies in the U.K. and abroad.
In case the SFO pursues the probe and decides to prosecute Mr. Mallya in the U.K. court, a senior official said, it could scuttle India’s efforts in getting him back to face trial in the alleged wilful bank loan default cases. Indian agencies have sought his extradition for prosecution in the ₹900-crore IDBI Bank case.
Extradition rules
Several teams of Indian agencies have visited the U.K. for sharing evidence and to coordinate with the British Crown Prosecution. Recently, a team of top government functionaries went there.
However, as per existing rules, the “requested country” allows extradition only when there is no pending case against the person in that country, the official said. If there is any such case, extradition can happen only after that case is disposed of and, if the person gets convicted, he or she has to serve the sentence there itself. The official said: “Charles Sobhraj was wanted in Thailand in murder cases that attracted death sentence. He was arrested in India, following which the Thailand government requested for his extradition, but he served the sentence here on conviction.”
Sobhraj was arrested for attempting to poison some French tourists in India. Thailand authorities approached the Indian counterparts for his extradition, but they were told that he had to be first tried for the crimes committed here. He was sentenced to seven years’ jail. India informed the Thailand agencies that he could be extradited only after he had served the sentence. Sobhraj masterminded a dramatic escape from Delhi’s Tihar Jail in 1986 after drugging the security guards. He was arrested about a month later.
It is believed that Sobhraj’s escaped from jail to ensure that he spent more time in Indian jail, till a 20-year limitation on trial for his crimes in Thailand would be over, allowing him to evade death sentence. He was released from jail in 1997.
Similarly, in the case of Abu Salem -- who has now been sentenced to life imprisonment in 1993 Mumbai blasts case -- a Portugal court had ordered that his extradition, and that of his girlfriend Monica Bedi, could be done only after serving the sentence there. Even though there was no extradition treaty between the two countries, India had invoked the United Nations Convention on Suppression of Terrorism for Salem’s extradition.
India’s extradition request, being pursued strongly by the Crown Prosecution, is pending before a UK court which had a hearing earlier this month. During the hearing, Mr. Mallya’s defence team was criticised for submitting evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service in physical, rather than in electronic, form. It would delay the proceedings.
The next hearing on submission of evidence is scheduled for November 20 and the main trial is to commence on December 4.
