Turbulence in the Air
Call it a travesty of justice, but fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya managed to spend another year at his countryside estate near London, where he has been holed up since 2016. However, his luck seems to be running out, and a recent order by the Westminster Magistrates’ Court may actually bring him back to India next year. On December 11, chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot said there was, prima facie, a case against Mallya for fraud, conspiracy and money laundering, and rejected his plea against extradition. Describing him as “this glamorous, flashy, famous, bejewelled, bodyguarded, ostensibly billionaire playboy who charmed and cajoled these bankers into losing their common sense”, the court turned down Mallya’s attempts to prove that the prosecution was “corrupt or politically motivated”. Mallya can challenge the court’s order in a Court of Appeal and finally the Supreme Court in the UK. And if he fails to get a reprieve, the actual deportation process could take five to six months. However, the court ruling comes as a shot in the arm for the Narendra Modi government which had been left red-faced by Mallya’s escape from India. Bringing Mallya back will bolster the ruling party’s claims on fighting corruption, but its real achievement will also be in ensuring that the businessman pays off the Rs 9,000 crore he owes 13 Indian banks, after Kingfisher Airlines was grounded in 2012. Mallya has said he is willing to pay off the entire amount, something he has been saying since early this year, as chances of his extradition became more real.
Meanwhile, the UK magistrate also seems satisfied with the video of barrack No. 12 at Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai, where Mallya will be housed when he returns to India. The erstwhile king of good times had cited the pathetic condition of the jail in his plea against extradition, but a determined Indian government plugged that loophole by submitting a video tape of the section of the jail that is awaiting its high-profile prisoner.