The noose around the neck of Viay Mallya, former chairman of United Breweries Limited (UBL, in India, better known by its brand name Kingfisher)is tightening.
The fugitive liquor baron, who fled India to the UK in March 2016 after the collapse of his heavily indebted Kingfisher Airlines (inside.beer, 27.09.2016) first lost his villa and other private belongings in India (inside.beer, 19.4.2017) , then his shares in India’s largest brewing group UBL that were subsequently sold to Heineken (inside.beer, 23.6.2021) and lately also his multi-million-pound luxury home in Regents Park, London.
In January, after Mallya failed to meet a repayment deadline for a loan of GBP 20.4 million in April 2020, Mallya and his family including son Sidhartha and mother Lalitha were evicted from their luxury London townhouse and Swiss bank UBS took possession of it.
Vijay Mallya, is soon expected to be extradited from the UK to India as political pressure from India on the UK has increased.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who fled own investigations in UK by visiting India this week, said the UK government has ordered the extradition of Mallya to India but “there remain some legal technicalities that have made it very difficult”.
Indian foreign secretary Harsh Shringla expressed his wish and the “high priority” to “bring back those economic fugitives who are wanted in India to face justice in the country.”
