Headline: India hands UK Mallya's extradition request
Strap: Swarup said India has a 'legitimate' case against him
PTI
New Delhi
India on Thursday handed over to the UK an extradition request for absconding businessman Vijay Mallya who is facing cases of loan default and other financial irregularities.
“Today, we handed over the request for extradition of Vijay Vittal Mallya which we received from the CBI to the UK High Commission here. We have requested the UK side to extradite him to face trial in India,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesman Vikas Swarup said.
Asserting that India has a “legitimate” case against Mallya, he said if an extradition request is honoured, it shows their “sensitivity towards our concerns”.
“We have made the extradition request in prescribed format and it is for the UK to deliberate on the request and take further action,” he added.
Swarup also said India is yet to make an extradition request for former IPL Chairman Lalit Modi.
Last month, a CBI court had issued a non-bailable warrant against Mallya in the Rs 720-crore IDBI Bank loan default case. Mallya, whose now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines owes more than Rs 9,000 crore to various banks, had left India on March 2.
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Mallya was not given a 'rupee benefit' under Modi govt:Jaitley
New Delhi PTI Feb 9
Insisting that Vijay Mallya was not given even “a rupee benefit” under the Modi government, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said loans were reportedly given to the businessman during the previous UPA rule through intervention of the North Block, a reference to the Finance Ministry.
Replying to a debate on Budget in Lok Sabha, he blamed the previous UPA dispensation for the massive NPAs of the banks, saying lending of “indiscriminate” loans to select people and industries during that period was the root cause of the problem.
“Aapke dwara kiye gaye karmon ka byaj hum de rahe hain (we are paying for your misdeeds),” he said.
In an obvious reference to Rahul Gandhi's allegations that the current government had given a benefit of Rs 1,200 crore to Vijay Mallya, Jaitley insisted that not “a rupee benefit” was given to the businessman by any bank since the NDA came to power in May 26, 2014.
As per the official figure, gross NPAs of public sector banks rose to Rs 6,30,323 crore by September 2016.
“The percentage (of NPAs) has not been increased because we have started giving much higher unaccountable loans. Most of these are loans given during 2007-08-09 period when the boom period of the economy was there,” he said.
“Your allegation is that your sins have not been corrected and reversed by us. This cannot be a charge on us,” said the Finance Minister.
Jaitley said disproportionate loans were given by the UPA to certain industries and that they were not farmers.
Documents which have come out say that loans were given through intervention of the North Block and the concerned bank officials were having to pay for it now, he said, in an apparent reference to cases being filed against some bank officials in connection with Mallya case.
“These were not to small people. It was to big companies. It was your legacy, it was your contribution. Our misfortune is that every year the interest goes up and so it becomes 5.1 per cent from 4.1 per cent and then becomes 6.1,” he said, adding the NDA was paying “interest” on UPA's work.
Quote: Today, we handed over the request for extradition of Vijay Vittal Mallya which we received from the CBI to the UK High Commission here. We have requested the UK side to extradite him to face trial in India - Vikas Swarup
