Daijiworld Media Network - London (SD)
With inputs from IANS

London, Apr 20: Fugitive tycoon Vijay Mallya on Monday lost his appeal in an UK court against an extradition order to India on charges of fraud and money laundering to the tune of Rs 9,000 crore.

The High Court in London upheld a 2018 ruling to send him back to India on grounds that Mallya made a number of misrepresentations leading to the 2012 collapse of his company, Kingfisher Airlines. 

At a hearing in February this year, the former 64-year-old Kingfisher Airlines boss had made an appeal to the high court against his extradition. Mallya had escaped the country after charges were put on him, is wanted in India for fraud and money laundering charges. He had challenged in the UK high court his extradition from the country.

Lord Justice Stephen Irwin and Justice Elisabeth Laing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London dismissed the appeal in a judgment handed down remotely due to the current coronavirus lockdown.

"We consider that while the scope of the prima facie case found by the SDJ [Senior District Judge] is in some respects wider than that alleged by the Respondent in India [Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED)], there is a prima facie case which, in seven important respects, coincides with the allegations in India," the judges ruled.

Mallya is wanted in India on alleged fraud of the banks and money laundering charges amounting to an estimated Rs 9,000 crore.