India presses France for Vijay Mallya's extradition 'without preconditions': Report

Indian government pushed for the extradition of fugitive businessman and liquor baron Vijay Mallya from France without any preconditions, media reports said quoting sources.Even as Mallya is presumed to be present in the United Kingdom, India has been actively pursuing his extradition with countries where he holds properties and extradition treaties exist, France being one of them. This strategy is to facilitate extradition if Mallya travels to any of these countries, as per reports.

Mallya, who is facing legal troubles related to financial mismanagement, loan defaults, and allegations of fraud and money laundering, fled the country in 2016 and is currently believed to be living in the UK.

As per the said sources, “The French offered a (extradition) proposal with some preconditions (but) India asked them to approve the proposal without any preconditions." This discussion came during the 16th meeting of the India-France Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism, which was held on April 15.

The meeting, attended by officials from both nations, addressed various counter-terrorism issues, including mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT) requests concerning cases of money laundering and terror financing, which encompassed Mallya's case as well.

As per a press release by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, the Indian delegation was led by Joint Secretary (CT) KD Dewal, and the French delegation by Ambassador Olivier Caron, Special Envoy for Counter-Terrorism and Organized Crime.

Mallya's legal woes

Notably, Mallya's troubles stemmedfrom a bank loan default case exceeding Rs 9,000 crore related to his defunct Kingfisher Airlines. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alleged that Mallya continued acquiring personal assets abroad even as his airline faced financial turmoil in India.

In 2020, French authorities seized Mallya's property in France valued at nearly Rs 14 crore. In April 2020, having pursued all available legal avenues to avoid extradition to India for allegations of embezzling public funds, Mallya made a plea for asylum to the UK Home Department citing "humanitarian grounds." As of now, the UK Home Department has not reached a decision regarding the asylum request.

(With inputs from agencies)