Twitter
Advertisement

Indo-UK talks fuel hope for Mallya extradition

Industrialist Mallya has been accused of money laundering and British citizen Michel is the suspected middleman in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland helicopter deal.

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

India and the United Kingdom (UK) on Monday agreed to facilitate extradition, so that fugitives and criminals were unable to escape the noose of law. At the bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UK premier Theresa May, India handed over a list of 60 wanted people, including liquor baron Vijay Mallya and arms dealer Christian Michel, sources said. The UK also handed over a list of 17 people, wanted by its law enforcement agencies and allegedly hiding in India.

Industrialist Mallya has been accused of money laundering and British citizen Michel is the suspected middleman in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland helicopter deal.

Last month, acting upon the Indian request, the British government extradited Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel, wanted in cases related to 2002 Gujarat riots. According to sources, while the UK affirmed its strong commitment to enhance cooperation under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), it also said that the provision of death penalty in India and the European Commission's provisions on human rights were posing hurdles in acceding to the requests.

According to a joint statement issued at the end of the meeting, the two Prime Ministers directed their officials dealing with extradition matters to meet at the earliest and develop a better understanding of both countries' legal processes and requirements. They will also share best practices, identify the causes of delays, and expedite pending requests.

"They also agreed that regular interactions between the relevant India-UK authorities would be useful in resolving all outstanding cases expeditiously," the statement read. Both sides further agreed to hold annual strategic dialogue at the level of Union Home Secretary to jointly deal with issues including terrorism, organised crime, visa and immigration matters.

When asked whether the Mallya issue figured in the talks, Joint Secretary (Europe) in the External Affairs Ministry, Randhir Jaiswal, referred to the joint statement issued after the discussions. It was not clear whether the name of former IPL boss Lalit Modi, also evading law in India, figured in the list. But officials said the talks will help the Indian authorities push for his extradition as well.

Meanwhile, condemning the September terrorist attack on the Indian Army Brigade headquarters in Uri, the two Prime Ministers reiterated their call for Pakistan to bring the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and 2016 Pathankot attack to justice.

They affirmed that the fight against terrorism should not only seek to bring to justice terrorists, terror organisations and networks, but should also identify, hold accountable and take strong measures against all those who encourage, support and finance terrorism, provide sanctuary to terrorists and terror groups, and falsely extol their virtues.

The strategic dialogue between the Union Home Secretary and his British counterpart, Permanent Secretary for Home Office, will begin from next year to discuss counter-terror cooperation, ways to deal with organised crime, besides bilateral visa and immigration matters, sources said. This is for the first time that India and Britain will have such a mechanism to deal with security issues. India already has an arrangement with the United States to have an annual Homeland Security dialogue at the level of Union Home Minister.

The joint statement further emphasised defence cooperation between the two countries. The Defence Consultative Group (DCG), scheduled to meet on November 15, 16, will look into the UK's proposals for capability partnerships through a range of activities, including military to military cooperation, training, exchange of subject matter experts, research and technology linkages as well as defence manufacturing. Like the ongoing cooperation between HAL and BAE Systems in manufacturing Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers in India, the Prime Ministers agreed to apply innovative approaches to jointly promote products and services in the international markets.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement