Mallya gears up for lengthy appeal against extradition

London, February 5 

A defiant Vijay Mallya has confirmed his plans to initiate a lengthy appeal process against the UK’s order to extradite him to face charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to nearly Rs 9,000 crore in India.

Mallya’s extradition was approved by UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid on Sunday. Mallya has two weeks to lodge a permission to appeal in the High Court. “After the decision was handed down on December 10, 2018, by the Westminster Magistrates Court, I stated my intention to appeal. I could not initiate the appeal process before a decision by the Home Secretary. Now, I will initiate the appeal process,” Mallya tweeted.

Once the application is made, the court will consider whether there are grounds for the appeal to be admitted and that in turn would trigger hearings over the next few months. “It could take months for the case to be heard... the whole process could take up to five or six months,”  a UK-based legal exper said. — PTI