Money laundering case: Vijay Mallya faces second set of criminal charges

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya will face a second wave of criminal charges connected to money laundering in India, his lawyer said at a London hearing without giving any details.

“They can present whatever they want, we will respond,” Mallya said to reporters in regard to the new charges after a short hearing that fixed a two-week extradition trial to start on December 4.

The 61-year-old was arrested in London April 18 on a warrant issued by Indian authorities accusing him of conspiring to defraud India’s IDBI Bank through a $1.4-billion loan to Kingfisher Airlines — a premium airline he founded in 2005 and shut down seven years later. He was released on £650,000 ($840,000) bail and ordered to surrender his passport.

“Mallya wishes to engage as constructively as possible with these proceedings,” Ben Watson, his lawyer, said in London on Thursday.

Mallya left India a year ago, saying he was moving to England to be closer to his children. He has since refused to return to India and said he fears an unfair trial amid the “media frenzy and hysteria” over unpaid dues. Mallya has also said government agencies are pursuing a “heavily biased investigation” and holding him guilty without trial. 

Bloomberg