ED seeks help from MHA

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is set to make a fresh request to the UK via the Union home ministry for custody of Vijay Mallya, who is wanted in a money-laundering case, invoking a clause in the 1992 India-UK Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) that provides for the transfer of people.

The ED will seek the home ministry’s help to utilise a provision in MLAT that offers the “transfer” of any fugitive wanted in a criminal case in India, said an agency source. The home ministry is then likely to approach authorities in the UK for Mallya’s transfer in 10 days, the source said. The home ministry has signed MLATs with more than 30 countries, including the UK. There is a non-bailable warrant issued by a Mumbai court against Mallya in the ED case, while his passport was revoked in May and India has also sought that the Interpol issue a Red Corner Notice against him.

Earlier, in May, the UK had refused India’s request to deport Mallya, who was then wanted for his defunct Kingfisher Airline Limited’s alleged default on a loan worth '900 crore by the public sector IDBI bank. Mallya left for the UK from India in March, at a time the alleged default was being probed separately by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The relevant India-UK MLAT clause can be invoked in a criminal probe seeking the “transfer” of persons, including persons in custody, for the purpose of assisting in a probe or giving evidence in it, according to the source. The process is separate from two other modes of seeking the custody of people who are wanted in a probe but are located in a foreign jurisdiction. One is deportation, while the other is extradition.