This Article is From May 23, 2016

For Vijay Mallya's Extradition, Enforcement Directorate Preps Its Plan

For Vijay Mallya's Extradition, Enforcement Directorate Preps Its Plan

To get Vijay Mallya to India, ED will approach a Mumbai court to issue a legal request under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty.

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate, probing a Rs 900 crore loan scam involving Vijay Mallya, has decided to approach a UK court to bring the liquor baron back to India.

A deportation request by the agency had earlier been turned down by the UK government, but the Enforcement Directorate now hopes to approach a British court under the mutual legal assistance treaty.

Mr Mallya has been in the UK since March. Despite his visa being cancelled by the Indian government recently, the businessman has managed to stay on in United Kingdom.

Sources in the Enforcement Directorate say that they won't be able to send an extradition request for Mr Mallya, as UK laws demand that the accused should be under trial at the time when such a request comes in. So, the agency has now decided to approach a Mumbai court to issue a legal request under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to be sent to the concerned court in UK, via the External Affairs Ministry.

The Enforcement Directorate, which has been probing Mr Mallya for the past three months, had also issued a non-bailable warrant against him. The agency alleges that out of the Rs 900 crore loan taken from IDBI bank in 2009, Rs 430 crore had allegedly been dispatched illegally outside the country.

Both the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation are probing Mr Mallya for the Rs 9,000 loan scam. Mr Mallya had taken this amount as loan from several banks in order to pay dues of his now defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

Sources in Enforcement Directorate also said that they have started the process of identifying Mr Mallya's assets, to attach properties equivalent to the loan money.
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