The British judge presiding over the extradition case of liquor baron Vijay Mallya said that it was blindingly obvious that rules were being broken by Indian banks which sanctioned some of the loans to the erstwhile Kingfisher Airlines.
Judge Emma Arbuthnot, at the Westminster Magistrates; Court in London, deemed the case to be a jigsaw puzzle with different pieces of major evidence to be put together to paint a picture.
She asserted that there are clear signs that the banks seem to have gone against their own guidelines in sanctioning some of the loans and invited the Indian authorities to explain the case against some of the bank officials involved as well.
Mallya is on trial to be extradited to India to face charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to around Rs. 9,000 crores.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is representing the Indian government. They laid out their arguments against the defence calling into question the admissibility of some of evidence submitted by the Indian authorities.
The judge is expected to rule on the admissibility of evidence and set a timeframe for her final verdict. However, the matter could be delayed over further clarifications required on the source of some of the emails submitted as evidence by the Indian authorities as well.
However, Mallya's counsel, Clare Montgomery, argued that evidence that was claimed as a blueprint of dishonesty by the CPS was in fact privileged conversation between Mallya and his lawyer about legal advice in clear contemplation of litigation and hence should be inadmissible.
Further, Mallya's team questioned the reliability of investigating officers in the case and pointed to over 150 pages of near identical material purporting to be statement of witnesses taken under Section 161 of the Indian CrPC.
The judge was not convinced by the argument and stated that she had found only two-three cases of mistakes but did not see a problem in the preparation of the statements.
The extradition trial is aimed at laying out a prima facie case of fraud against the tycoon, who has been based in the UK since he left India in March 2016. It also seeks to prove that there are no “bars to extradition” and that Mallya is assured a fair trial in India over his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines’ alleged default of loans from a consortium of Indian banks.
Mallya was arrested by Scotland Yard on an extradition warrant in April 2017 and has been out on bail on a bond worth 650,000 pounds. Chief Magistrate Arbuthnot is expected to pronounce her verdict in the case by May.
If she rules in favour of the Indian government, the UK home secretary will have two months to sign Mallya's extradition order. However, both sides will have the chance to appeal in higher courts in the UK against the chief magistrate's verdict.
