Not enough money to settle loan: Vijay Mallya to SC

Business tycoon and former liquor baron Vijay Mallya in a recent hearing of his loan default case told the Supreme Court that he did not have enough money to pay the Rs 9,000 crore which he owes to the banks in the country as all his assets had been attached by the government authorities. In the last hearing on March 3rd, the banks had conveyed to the apex court that Mallya did not deliberately disclose receipt of 40 million US dollars from a British company in the form of sale proceedings, as he had transferred the amount to trusts set up for his three children. The consortium also pleaded to the court to ensure that Mallya successfully deposits the money, adding that if he fails to do so, then the court should direct him to make a personal appearance. The banks had given loans to Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines, United Breweries and Kingfisher Finvest (India) Ltd. Earlier this year, the apex court had granted three weeks time to Mallya to file a reply to the consortium of banks, who sought deposit of the amount of 40 million dollars. The consortium of banks led by State Bank of India had earlier approached the apex court seeking its intervention in bringing back Mallya to India and also repayment of money which the struggling businessman, who has absconded to England, had taken. The banks, in their plea, told the court that there was an outstanding loan of almost Rs. 9,000 crore against the businessman. The Supreme Court asked the Centre if there were any measures under the criminal law that could be taken to bring back Mallya from London. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said the Centre was looking into it and would take steps accordingly. Vijay Mallya is involved in a number of cases in India. In November 2016, he was declared an absconder by a special court that deals with cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. During the same month, India had asked UK, where Mallya is believed to be residing since March 2016, to extradite the industrialist under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty as he owes around Rs 9,000 crore to 17 banks in India. On January 31 this year, a special CBI court had issued a non-bailable warrant against Mallya.

The loan default case on Malay has been going on for quite some time now. Owing to the amount of loan that he owes to the banks, fast tracking the case proceedings was the need of the hour. Further the court should take measures to extradite Mallya from UK as soon as possible so that there is no further hurdle or delays in the proceedings due to unavailability of the accused.