Vijay Mallya wanted in loan default case gets bail in UK court
LONDON: Vijay Mallya, the embattled tycoon who is wanted in India on loan defaults to several banks, on Tuesday claimed that he has “enough evidence” to plead his case as a UK court granted him bail until December 4.
The 61-year-old former chief of erstwhile Kingfisher Airlines appeared before Westminster Magistrates’ Court here for his extradition case hearing. Chief Magistrate Emma Louise Arbuthnot granted bail to Mallya until December 4. The next hearing has been set for July 6.
“I have not eluded any court...I have enough evidence to prove my case,” Mallya told reporters outside the court.
“I don’t make statements to the media because anything I say is twisted. There is enough evidence, that will speak,” he said.
“I go to cheer India in a cricket match and it becomes a media frenzy. It’s better I don’t say anything,” he added.
Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) presented the case in court on behalf of the Indian authorities. Mallya’s defence team, which is being led by the firm Joseph Hague Aaronson LLP, said a second extradition request is expected from the Indian government.
The CPS had met a joint team of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in London last month to thrash out details of the case. A CBI official has also flown in from Delhi for the hearing on Tuesday.
“Our aim is to build a strong, infallible case and these meetings will help resolve issues across the table. The CPS will be arguing based on documents provided by CBI and ED, therefore a joint team is here to address queries they may have,” official sources had said after the meeting held in early May.
Mallya, who is wanted in India for Kingfisher Airlines’ default on loans worth nearly Rs90 billion has been in the UK since March 2016 and was arrested by Scotland Yard on an extradition warrant on April 18.