In a major setback, embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya on Thursday lost his application seeking leave to appeal in the UK Supreme Court, setting a 28-day clock on extradition proceedings.
It marks a big legal blow to Mallya, who last month lost his High Court appeal against an extradition order to India on charges of fraud and money laundering related to unrecovered loans to his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
The 64-year-old businessman had 14 days to file his plea to seek permission to move the SC on the High Court judgment from April 20, which dismissed his appeal against a Westminster Magistrates’ Court extradition order certified by the UK Home Secretary.
The latest decision, referred to as a “pronouncement”, means that under the India-UK Extradition Treaty, the UK Home Office is now expected to formally certify the court order for Mallya to be extradited to India within 28 days.
“The court having signified its intention to refuse to certify a point of law of general public importance with a view to an appeal to the Supreme Court,” notes the pronouncement by Lord Justice Stephen Irwin and Justice Elisabeth Laing, the two-member bench at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
It sets the 28-day “required period’, as defined by Section 36 and Section 118 of the UK Extradition Act 2003, within which the extradition must be carried out.
