The ‘king of good times’ businessman Vijay Mallya has been arrested by the Scotland Yard. He is due to appear in London court and this is being seen as the first step to his extradition to India.
The business tycoon has been accused of defaulting on loans worth crores and will soon be produced at the metropolitan court. UK has arrested Mallya, in cooperation with India, who left the country last year amidst attempts by the banks to recover their unpaid loans. He faces charges of money laundering and several arrest warrants.
New Delhi has proceeded to cancel Mallya’s passport and asked UK to deport him to India. But India’s deportation request is not covered under UK law that allows visitors to stay back despite their passport’s invalidity. The founder of the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines owes over 9000 crores to various banks and has been charged with cheating and conspiracy by the CBI.
A 1000 page chargesheet has been filed against him for defaulting the 900 crore loan taken from IDBI bank alone in 2009. A CBI probe found out that 250 crore of this amount was diverted abroad instead of buying aircraft parts, for which the loan amount was granted.
Vijay Mallya had previously submitted before the court on September 9 that he wanted to return to India but was incapacitated because of his passport being revoked. He has been alleged to have paid USD 200,000 to a British firm for the display of Kingfisher logo in Formula One World Championships in London and some European countries. The amount was paid without prior approval from the RBI and was in violation of FERA norms.
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