The British judge hearing the extradition case of liquor baron Vijay Mallya said that Indian banks had broken rules while sanctioning loans to the erstwhile Kingfisher Airlines. Presiding over a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, Judge Emma Arbuthnot described the case as a "jigsaw puzzle." "There are clear signs that the banks seem to have gone against their own guidelines in sanctioning some of the loans," she said, "inviting" the Indian authorities to explain the case against some of the bank officials involved because that relates to the "conspiracy" point against Mallya.
The court will decide whether the 62-year-old businessman can be extradited to India to face charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to around £900 million. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), arguing on behalf of the Indian government, laid out their arguments against the defence calling into question the admissibility of some of evidence submitted by the Indian authorities. Pointing out that Mallya had "chosen not to give evidence" in the case, CPS counsel Mark Summers rejected the defence claims on the evidence as "nonsense". "The government of India has established by other copious evidence a prima facie case of fraud," he said.
The judge is expected to rule on the admissibility of evidence and set a time-frame 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.
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.
"They do not appear to be in any way an account of things that witnesses would have said but rather seem to be somebody else's analysis put into the mouths of the witnesses, down to the spelling mistakes," Montgomery said.
The judge did not seem to be convinced by this argument and said she had found only two-three cases of mistakes but did not see a "problem" in the preparation of the statements. Judge Arbuthnot had also sought further clarifications related to availability of natural light and medical assistance at Barrack 12 of Mumbai Central Prison on Arthur Road, where Mallya is to be held if he is extradited from Britain.