The Royal Courts of Justice in London on Tuesday granted embattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya permission to appeal against the extradition order of a lower court to face alleged fraud and money-laundering charges amounting to Rs 9,000 crore in India.
A two-member bench at the Royal Courts of Justice, comprising Justices George Leggatt and Andrew Popplewell, ruled that “arguments can be reasonably made” on some aspects of the prima facie case ruling by Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot in her extradition order of December 2018, which was signed off by UK home secretary Sajid Javid earlier this year.
“By far the most substantial ground is that the senior district judge was wrong to conclude that the government had established a prima facie case,” said Judge Leggatt. “We have been persuaded that the first ground of appeal is reasonably arguable,” he noted.
