Not easy for 'proclaimed offender' Mallya to stay in UK now
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Liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya will find it difficult to stay in UK for long inferred a report in the Hindu. Mallya, who is currently in the United Kingdom, has been charged with offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and declared a ‘proclaimed offender’ by the special court on Tuesday. Mallya has so far ignored three summons by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and a non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued by the PMLA court in the last three months.
He now has to be present in court in the next 30 days or all his properties around the world — even those not incriminated in his alleged crime — will be attached by the ED.The ‘proclaimed offender’ tag could also hasten the process of his extradition.
However, experts say it is not easy in practice to extradite people from the U.K. and cited examples of Indian musician Nadeem Saifi, accused in the Gulshan Kumar murder case and former cricket administrator Lalit Modi, who has been named in several money laundering cases.
Explaining the process of extradition, Majeed Memon, Rajya Sabha MP and defence attorney in the Nadeem Saifi case said, “It has become easier for [the ED] to get the NBW xecuted outside the country through a red corner notice and in co-ordination with Interpol. Once they get the support of Interpol, they will have to get the warrant executed through them; the Indian authorities cannot do it. He will be arrested and may be bailed out with the execution of the bail bond, and the extradition proceedings will be lodged in Bow Street Court, specially designated for the purpose. Then the proceedings will start. It is very difficult, because he may not plead guilty and have a 100 defences.”
Drawing parallels with the Nadeem Saifi case, Memon said, “We have contested for five years the extradition of Nadeem Saifi, and finally the request was rejected because the evidence was doubtful and no satisfactory case was made out.”He said, “It is difficult to extradite someone from U.K. as there the human rights values are very high and we not only got the extradition request turned down but Nadeem was also given 1 million pounds and a British passport for his entire family.”
An advocate who has frequently appeared for the ED said, “This does not make him come back. It would only ‘compel’ him to come back because the repercussions would be that all the properties of Mr Mallya everywhere can be attached and that would make it impossible for him to survive without the properties.”
An ED source said, “It is an opportunity for him to come and co-operate. But with the U.K., even other countries have not been able to extradite people. We do have an extradition treaty with them but you cannot force him to come back. We can send a request to the U.K.”
The source continued, “In Lalit Modi’s case, we did not declare him a proclaimed offender but initiated the extradition process, but what has come of it?”
