UK home secretary approves extradition of fugitive Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya
- The multimillionaire chairman of Kingfisher beer and former Force India Formula One team owner is accused of fraud
Britain’s home secretary has ordered the extradition of Vijay Mallya, the Indian multimillionaire chairman of Kingfisher beer and former Force India Formula One team owner, over allegations of fraud.
Sajid Javid on Monday formally ordered Mallya – who owns two multimillion pound UK properties and until last year had two superyachts – to be extradited, stating that the 63-year-old businessman is “accused in India of conspiracy to defraud, making false representations and money-laundering offences”.
Mallya, the self-proclaimed “king of the good times” who lives in a mansion worth 11.5 million pounds (US$14.96 million) in the sleepy Hertfordshire village of Tewin, said he would appeal against the extradition. “I could not initiate the appeal process before a decision by the home secretary. Now I will initiate the appeal process,” he said on Twitter.
He has been fighting the extradition order and has previously dismissed the allegations that he fled India leaving a trail of more than a billion US dollars worth of debts as “ludicrous”. He has said he made an “unconditional” offer to pay what he owed in full in July 2018.
A judge ruled in December that Mallya had misrepresented how loans from Indian banks were used and referred the decision on his extradition to Javid.
