Verdict in case to extradite Mallya from UK expected today

Mallya, the 62-year-old former Kingfisher Airlines boss, has been on bail in the UK since his arrest on an extradition warrant in April last year. He has contested his extradition on the grounds that the case against him is “politically motivated” and the loans he has been accused of defrauding on were sought to keep his now-defunct airline afloat.

“I did not borrow a single rupee. The borrower was Kingfisher Airlines. Money was lost due to a genuine and sad business failure. Being held as guarantor is not fraud,” he said in his recent Twitter post on the issue. “I have offered to repay 100% of the principal amount to them. Please take it,” he tweeted.

Mallya’s extradition matter is the most high-profile case since India and the UK signed an extradition treaty in 1993. If judge Emma Arbuthnot rules on Monday that there are no legal bars to Mallya’s extradition and recommends it to the home secretary, the liquor tycoon will have an opportunity to appeal in higher courts. The final decision to extradite Mallya rests with the UK home secretary.

During the extradition proceedings, the Indian authorities provided videos of a cell in Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail to the Westminster magistrate court to show where he will be kept, if sent back to India.

While Mallya’s team insists there is no prima facie case and that the inability to return loans to his now defunct Kingfisher Airlines was due to a “genuine business failure”, India has alleged “three chapters of dishonesty” on his part.