
Mallya’s defence lawyer Clare Montgomery today told the Westminster Magistrates Court that there was no evidence against the liquor baron to extradite him to India
The UK court is hearing a case related to money laundering and fraud with Mallya owing several Indian banks around Rs 9,000 crores.
Defence lawyer Clare Montgomery told Westminster Magistrates Court that there was "no evidence" to link Mallya to the fraud charge and he shouldn't be extradited.
"Economically and legally it is impossible to palm off losses onto banks by borrowing to pass on the cost of failure," Clare Montgomery told the UK court.
Clare Montgomery added that the Indian government’s case revealed a “shocking lack of appreciation of how companies function".
The defence lawyer told the court that there were narratives, fraud versus business failure, and "no reasonable jury would be able to reach a safe conclusion".
Montgomery also rejected the allegation that senior managers at state-owned lender IDBI were involved in Mallya’s plan.
“That is one of a number of allegations that prosecuting authorities have made without a shred of evidence,” she said.
The defence lawyer also rejected Indian government's argument that Mallya had improperly spent the money borrowed from the banks,adding that there was "no evidence of disbursements on anything other than the benefit of Kingfisher."
The extradition hearing is expected to last two weeks.