Britain is trying to resolve as quickly as possible the “confidential” legal issue delaying the extradition of fugitive businessman and former MP Vijay Mallya to India, Britain’s Acting High Commissioner Jan Thompson said on Tuesday.
Extradition proceedings against the liquor baron concluded in May after the UK High Court rejected Mallya’s request to address the Supreme Court of Great Britain against the decision to send him back to India, but secret procedures have delayed your departure.
When asked about the matter in a virtual press conference, Thompson said it would not be possible for her to provide a precise time for Mallya’s extradition. “I think you probably already know, because we’ve said it several times, there is another legal issue that needs to be resolved before we can extradite Mr. Mallya.”
Also read: India seeks speedy extradition of Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi from the UK
He said that the extradition had “been ordered some time ago” and that it was “difficult for me to comment on it in a very substantive way” because it is a legal matter.
“But extradition cannot take place until that particular legal problem is resolved. It is a confidential matter, I cannot say more about it. Nor can I estimate how long it will take to resolve it, but what I can do is that we are trying to resolve the problem as quickly as possible, ”Thompson said.
India has already said that it is not a party to the “secret legal matter” in the UK that has delayed Mallya’s extradition. Foreign Ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava told a news conference in October that the secret legal matter “has not yet been resolved and that without its resolution, he cannot be extradited.”
“We are not party to this matter and we remain in contact with the UK government,” Srivastava had said at the time.
The UK Magistrates Court recommended Mallya’s extradition on December 10, 2018. Mallya’s appeal against this order was dismissed by the UK High Court on April 20 this year.
Mallya then applied to the UK High Court for permission to appeal to the High Court and was rejected on May 14. He has exhausted all avenues of appeal.
It has been speculated in London that the most likely issue that delayed Mallya’s extradition was an asylum claim, a process on which the British authorities do not publicly comment on individual cases as a matter of policy and strict data protection laws.
Mallya flew to the UK in March 2016 as a consortium of Indian banks, claiming that he owes Rs9,000 crore in principal and interest on loans made to his defunct Kingfisher Airlines, approached him to get the money back. He was later declared deliberate defaulter in India.
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