Modi seeks UK help to bring economic fugitives back home
AT G20 SUMMIT India wants Theresa May’s support in extraditing bank loan-defaulters like Vijay Mallya
As India works hard to ensure return of fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday put pressure on his British counterpart Theresa May to ensure UK's cooperation in bringing back economic offenders.
Mallya has been in the UK for months, escaping arrest warrants against him, while a court in London is also hearing a case regarding his return to India.
Modi on Saturday met Theresa May during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hamburg and sought UK's help in this regard. Both leaders also talked about the complete range of India-UK ties.
In a tweet after the meeting, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said the Prime Minister asked for UK's “cooperation for return of escaped Indian economic Offenders”.
Mallya, who is wanted in India for Kingfisher Airlines' default on loans worth nearly Rs 9,000 crore, has been in the UK since March 2016. In April, he had attended a central London police station for his arrest and was released on conditional bail a few hours later after providing a bail bond worth 650,000 pounds, assuring the court of abiding by all conditions associated with extradition proceedings, such as the surrender of his passport and a ban on him possessing any travel documents.
India and the UK have an Extradition Treaty, signed in 1992, but so far only one extradition has taken place under the arrangement — Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel, who was packed off to India last October to face trial in connection with his involvement in the post-Godhra riots of 2002.
“Prime Ministers @narendramodi and @theresa may met and held talks on the complete range of India-UK ties,” India’s PMO said in a tweet.
Vijay Mallya, who is wanted in India for Kingfisher Airlines’ default on loans worth nearly Rs 9,000 crore, has been in the UK since March 2016.