Controversial businessman Vijay Mallya was handed a lifeline by the England and Wales high court on Tuesday when it permitted him to appeal against the February 3 order of home secretary Sajid Javid to extradite him to India. Facing charges of financial offences running into over Rs 9,000 crore, Mallya, who lost in the Westminster Magistrates Court after a year-long trial in December 2018, will now not be immediately extradited but will be able to mount further legal challenges in the high court. Mallya, who attended the hearing with his son Siddhartha Mallya and partner Pinki Lalwani, said after the ruling: “I always said there is no prima facie case against me. She also argued that India had submitted a fraction of relevant paperwork, adding that if the full material were submitted, the magistrates court would not have reached the conclusions it did. Montgomery reiterated the principal claim made previously in the magistrates court, that Mallya’s inability to repay the loans was a result of business failure, and not due to dishonesty or conspiracy to defraud banks.

Source: Hindustan Times July 02, 2019 16:41 UTC