A month after losing an appeal against extradition from the UK in British High Court, business tycoon Vijay Mallya has urged the Indian government to accept 100% payback of his overdue loans while calling himself “a small contributor” to the country’s fight against coronavirus. He also appealed to the government to nullify the pending cases related to loan repayment against him.
Mallya took to Twitter to congratulate the government over the recent announcement of a $266 billion fiscal stimulus to the COVID-19-struck economy and said his appeal to contribute by paying back his loans to a state-owned bank should not be ignored.
Earlier this month, the owner of defunct Kingfisher Airlines had filed an application seeking leave to appeal in the UK Supreme Court after losing an appeal against his extradition to India in the UK's High Court.
After the rejection of his appeal in UK High Court, India's top investigative agency officials had said that “in all probability, Mallya’s extradition is confirmed and sealed” as the UK’s Extradition Act permits an appeal before the Supreme Court only if there is a ‘significant point of law’ to be settled.
Once an investor in major alcohol brands, air travel, auto racing and even a cricket team, Mallya had appealed to the High Court against his extradition by the Indian government at a hearing in February this year.
In 2016, Mallya escaped to London with Indian law enforcement authorities on his trail after a state-owned bank declared that he owed several million rupees and in 2018 he was arrested by the UK's Metropolitan Police extradition unit.
India has been seeking Mallya’s extradition from the UK to face a criminal trial in the country for failing to repay a loan of INR 90 billion ($1.2 billion).