Government lying on extradition of Lalit Modi, Vijay Mallya: Congress

The Congress on Monday accused the Narendra Modi government of lying on the issue of the extradition of Lalit Modi and Vijay Mallya and said the government has "no intention" of bringing the two back to India.

"Modi government doesn't want to get back Lalit Modi or Vijay Mallya. The government has been lying that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had sought extradition of Lalit Modi from the External Affairs Ministry. This was made clear by the External Affairs Minister yesterday (Sunday)," said senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, newly-elected to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Sunday said that her ministry will seek extradition of former IPL chairman Lalit Modi and industrialist Vijay Mallya, both in Britain, once it receives revised requests from the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

"In November 14, 2015, for the first time a statement came from Finance Ministry's enforcement department that they were seeking the extradition of Lalit Modi. Again on May 27, 2016 ED made a statement that they were seeking the extradition of Lalit Modi," said Ramesh.

"Yesterday (Sunday) Union External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj in a statement said that ED has not sent us extradition request on Lalit Modi. This means there has been no request to External Affairs Ministry on Lait Modi's extradition from ED department, which comes under the Finance Ministry. This makes it very clear that this government doesn't want the extradition of Modi," he added.

Mallya left India for Britain earlier this year with more than Rs 9,000 crore of outstanding dues to 18 Indian banks. A non-bailable arrest warrant has been issued by a Mumbai court against the business tycoon.

The ED is probing Lalit Modi and other executives associated with IPL since 2012 for alleged violation of anti-money laundering laws.

"Swaraj also said in her statement that there are some gaps in the extradition papers of Vijay Mallya? What are the gaps? Can't the ED make the request for extradition properly?" Ramesh asked.

--IANS

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