A "confidential legal issue" has held up the extradition of fugitive business tycoon Vijay Mallya from the UK to India, and on Thursday, 19 November, the Ministry of External Affairs announced that the Indian government is following up with British authorities, but no timeline has been indicated for the extradition as of yet.
"We've been told that there's a confidential legal issue which needs addressing, following which Vijay Mallya can be extradited to India. No particular timeline has been indicated to us and we continue to take up this issue with UK authorities," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava told news agency ANI on Thursday.
Vijay Mallya is wanted in India for defaulting on loans worth Rs 9,000 crore. Upon threat of persecution, he fled to the UK in March 2016 and has since challenged the Indian government’s extradition order on charges of fraud and money laundering in connection with unrecovered loans to his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
On 6 October, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) told the Supreme Court that the UK Home Office intimated that there is a further legal issue which needs to be resolved before Vijay Mallya's extradition takes place, and this issue is outside and apart from the extradition process having effect under the UK law.
His extradition was ordered in May by a British court, but since then, the extradition has been delayed because of “secret proceedings initiated in the country. The UK side said it informed the Indian High Commission that the issue is confidential and cannot be disclosed.
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