New Delhi: Today the honorable Supreme Court of India issued notice to Vijay Mallya on the plea made by consortium of banks seeking disclosure of his assets and seizure of passport. He has given 2 weeks’ time to answer and posted the next hearing on 30th March 2016
SBI with other 13 banks moves SC seeking for disclosure of his assets and seizure of passport to prevent Mallya from leaving the country, but he is believed to left the country a few days ago for a foreign destination. The banks were represented by AG Mukul Rohatgi, informed the court that Mallya left the country on March 2, owed Rs 7000 crore from the petitioner banks.
Notably, the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) restrained Mallya from disbursing Rs 515 crore paid to him by liquor major Diageo for United Spirits. But the Tribunal refused to block his passport and thereafter the banks approached SC for embounding his passport and seeking for disclosure of his assets .
Moreover, Mallya has reportedly expressed his wish to settle down on London following the 515 crore above said deal. Through, AG the bank expressed its concern over Mallay’s escape from the country to the bench CJ T.S Thakur and UU Lalit and that is the reason why they had approached the DRT for embounding his passport and also for the issuance of arrest warrant. The AG further said the DRT did not gave any order for freezing the passport and may possibly failed to block Mallya. The bank further moved High Court of Karnataka for same remedy, but HC also failed to protect the interest of petitioner banks and didn’t get any interim order to the same.
According to Mallya’s spokesperson that he has no info about Mallya’s whereabouts and he was communicating only through emails. The CBI sources said he is already abroad, “We are aware that he is not in the country at present. We will track his location when we need him,”
Mr Mallya is also confronting a money-laundering case against him for allegedly sending abroad Rs. 900 crores that his airline borrowed from IDBI.
Adv. Mikky Sudhakaran