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India’s ‘king of good times’ Vijay Mallya loses appeal against extradition from UK
- The Indian tycoon was arrested in London after being accused of wilfully defaulting on over US$1.3 billion in debt accumulated by Kingfisher Airlines
- Mallya co-owned the Formula One team Force India as well as interests in aviation and liquor, and was known for his hard-partying lifestyle
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Indian businessman Vijay Mallya lost an appeal in Britain’s High Court on Monday against a 2018 decision to extradite him to India to face fraud and money laundering charges resulting from the collapse of his defunct company Kingfisher Airlines.
India wants to bring back Mallya, 64, whose business interests have ranged from aviation to liquor, over loans which the authorities argue he had no intention of repaying.
Mallya was arrested in London in April 2017 after 17 banks accused him of wilfully defaulting on more than 91 billion rupees (US$1.3 billion) in debt accumulated by Kingfisher Airlines – a full-service carrier he founded in 2005 and shut down seven years later. A wilful defaulter refuses to repay loans despite having the means to do so.
“The SDJ [senior district judge] was entitled to find that there was a prima facie case of fraud by false representation,” the judge said in a more than 23,000-word ruling.
Mallya, the co-owner of the Formula One motor racing team Force India which went into administration in 2018, was nicknamed “the king of good times” after the slogan of one of his premium beers and his hard-partying lifestyle.
His extradition would be a huge win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has faced pressure from political opponents to bring to justice several people who have fled India in recent years to escape prosecution, many for loan defaults.
The Indian government said in February that Mallya must face trial in relation to “a very substantial allegation of dishonesty”.
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