Mallya lawyer asks to be discharged from duties

The lawyer representing the fugitive former head of United Breweries and United Spirits before the Indian Supreme Court has been discharged from his duties by the court.

Advocate EC Agrawala asked the court to release him from representing Vijay Mallya because he was not able to make contact with him.

He said that despite numerous attempts to contact Mallya via email and other methods “no instruction is forthcoming”. Mallya, who fled to Britain in March 2016 to avoid arrest, has already been convicted of contempt
and sentenced to four months in jail.

He also faces charges of fraud and money laundering involving £1.15 billion of loans from a consortium of Indian banks to his failed Kingfisher Airlines.

The Indian authorities have seized sufficient assets in India belonging to Mallya to meet the debts and he has claimed that the matter should be settled by that. But that ignores the criminal charges.

He has exhausted all court avenues in Britain to avoid extradition to India and should have been handed over 18 months ago. However the UK government says it is unable to do so until a “confidential legal matter” is resolved.

This is widely thought to be a request from Mallya for political asylum as he believes would not receive a fair trial in India.

Mallya remains on bail in Britain, living on an estate at Tewin, Hertfordshire, and in a mansion in
London’s fashionable Regents Park.