Vijay Mallya Arrested in London, to be produced in court !!!

(Pi Bureau)

 

New Delhi: London: Liquor baron Vijay Mallya has been arrested by police in London, and will be produced in the metropolitan court.

 

Scotland Yard said that Mallya has been declared a proclaimed offender, and arrested on an extradition warrant.

 

India had requested the UK for the extradition of Mallya, who is accused of defaulting on bank loans worth 9,000 crores and facing charges of money laundering.

 

Mallya is likely to be extradited to India. A CBI team will visit United Kingdom soon.

Mallya has repeatedly refused to appear before courts and investigators in India since he secretly fled to Britain last March, after defaulting on loan payments to state-owned banks and allegedly misusing the funds.

His financial dealings are being investigated by the CBI and federal Enforcement Directorate.

India cancelled Mallya’s passport, but his extradition was refused by the UK because under the country’s laws, visitors could stay in the country even if their passports had expired.

Mallya, known for his extravagant lifestyle and who once branded himself the ‘King of Good Times, was sacked in February from the board of United Breweries, the firm through which he once controlled his business empire.

He made Kingfisher beer a global brand and ran a now-defunct airline with the same name, besides being the owner of a cricket side and a Formula One team.

More than half a dozen court warrants have already been issued against his name, and he owes banks at least Rs 9,000 crore.

Mallya, who remains a part-owner of the Force India Formula One team, has come to personify India’s problems with bad debts that are piling up on the balance sheets of banks.

Mallya, who launched Kingfisher Airlines which now owes Rs 9,000 crores to banks, has been charged with cheating and conspiracy by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which filed a 1000-page chargesheet against him. The chargesheet covered one specific case of loan default – a Rs 900 crore loan given to Mallya by IDBI.

 

The CBI had found that Rs 250 crore of the Rs 900 crore, which was granted to buy aircraft parts, was instead diverted abroad.