Vijay Mallya applies for "another route" to stay in UK, says his lawyer

Vijay Mallya who is due to be extradited to India has applied for another route to be able to stay in the UK the embattled liquor tycoons barrister representing him in bankruptcy proceedings in the High Court here confirmed in the court for the first timeThe 65yearold businessman whose legal challenge to the Indian governmentrsquos extradition request was turned down at the Supreme Court level in the UK last year remains in Britain on bail until UK Home Secretary Priti Patel signs off on the order for him to be extradited to India to face charges of fraud and money laundering related to the nowdefunct Kingfisher AirlinesThe extradition was upheld but he Mallya is still here because as you know there is another route for him to apply to the Secretary of State Patel for statusrdquo said barrister Philip Marshall when specifically asked by Deputy Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Nigel Barnett about the status of the extradition proceedings during a remote hearing on FridayThe UK Home Office has so far only confirmed on background that a confidential legal process remains ongoing before the extradition request signed by the Home Secretary on February 3 2019 can be certified and executedThis had raised widespread speculation that Mallya had sought asylum in the UK details of which are neither confirmed nor denied by the Home Office in Britain while an application is pendingIt is likely that the reference made by Mallyarsquos barrister is to an asylum route which according to legal experts would depend upon whether Mallya applied for asylum prior to the extradition request or afterHe would need to argue much stronger grounds There are specific rules that detail when asylum is a bar to extradition it is clear that claiming asylum after all appeals have been exhausted is unlikely to be considered a valid claim to asylum protection explains Toby Cadman cofounder of Guernica 37 International Justice Chambers and a UKbased extradition specialistThe court on Friday also heard how Mallya who submitted written evidence for the hearing was in a constrained position as a close relative had passed away as a result of COVID19The remote hearing in the commercial division of the High Court in London was to establish whether the court can sanction substantial sums towards Mallyarsquos living expenses and legal fees from the sale of a French luxury property Le Grand Jardin last yearThe money is held in the UKrsquos Court Funds Office CFO as part of bankruptcy proceedings brought by a consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India SBI in pursuit of unpaid loansMallyarsquos legal team argues that he should be sanctioned the required funds to meet mounting legal costs in India and the UK which includes costs to be paid to the UKrsquos Crown Prosecution Service CPS which argued the extradition proceedings on behalf of the Indian authoritiesThe lawyers for the banks have challenged this as it would dissipate the funds owed to his creditors towards speculative and unreasonable costs while other sources of funds remain available to the businessmanThe banksrsquo barrister Tony Beswetherick argued that Mallyas latest written evidence shows that he ldquodoes have other assets that he can utilise to meet the very significant costs he is seeking to have validated and paid including two yachts that he has put into storage in Southampton debts owed to him by family trusts and cars in storage in FrancerdquoHowever Mallyarsquos lawyers pointed to a worldwide freezing order in place that constrains access to his assets and the conclusion in October last year of his consultancy arrangement for a Formula One team meant he had no other sources of income at his disposalThey claimed the conduct of the banks was ldquohighly oppressiverdquo and an attempt to ldquostarve Dr Mallya of the fundsrdquoAt the end of a halfday hearing the judge reserved his judgment on the issue of access to courtheld funds and is expected to hand down his ruling in the coming weeksThe hearing forms part of a series as both sides make arguments for and against a bankruptcy order against Mallya in the UKThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever