London, July 2:Embattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya arrived at the UK High Court on Tuesday as he seeks permission to appeal against an extradition order signed off by UK home secretary Sajid Javid for him to be extradited to India to face alleged fraud and money laundering charges amounting to Rs 9,000 crore.
The 63-year-old former Kingfisher Airlines boss said he was feeling “positive” as he entered the Royal Courts of Justice here.
He has already lost a UK High Court “leave to appeal” on paper, leading to an oral hearing of his renewal application this week.
A two-judge bench of the Administrative Court division of the Royal Courts of Justice in London will hear the application, filed in April.
During the day-long hearing, listed before Justices George Leggatt and Andrew Popplewell, Mallya’s legal team and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)–arguing on behalf of the Indian government–will go head to head to reiterate factors for and against the businessman’s extradition to Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai.
The judges are likely to reserve their judgment in the case and hand down their ruling in the coming weeks.
In the scenario that Mallya is unsuccessful in his appeal, he must be extradited within 28 days from the appeal decision becoming final. However, if he is granted permission to appeal, the case will then proceed to a full hearing stage at the UK High Court.
The appeal will mark one of the final stages of the appeals process, as the chances of permission to appeal to the Supreme Court are unlikely if such permission is already denied at the High Court stage.
“It is not for me to prejudge the outcome of the appeal, but he [Mallya] does face serious challenges in overturning the order for extradition,” said Toby Cadman, co-founder of Guernica 37 International Justice Chambers.
“The right to appeal against an extradition order is not straightforward. His defence will have to prove fairly strong grounds to convince the judges to grant an appeal,” explained Cadman, a UK-based barrister who handles high-profile extradition cases.
An appeal to the UK’s Supreme Court is quite a rare prospect in extradition cases such as this one, as Mallya’s defence team would need to have a “point of law of general public importance” certified by the Administrative Court of the High Court. PTI
