Cracking the whip on Vijay Mallya, the Supreme Court has asked him to disclose all assets-both in India and abroad-owned by him and his immediate family.
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The consortium of banks told the Supreme Court that Vijay Mallya is a fugitive from justice and that he must come to the court.
A bench comprising justices Kurian Joseph and Rohinton Nariman also noted the submission of Mallya’s lawyer, C.S. Vaidyanathan that his return to India is uncertain.
When contacted, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said, “we have filed a rejoinder to Mallya’s affidavit in which it has been stated that he is also not indicating the date of his return to the country”.
However, Mallya’s lawyer told the court that he has no instruction on when Mallya will return to India.
The SC was hearing a petition alleging that Mallya is not cooperating in the probe initiated against him, and has refrained from disclosing his foreign assets.
Vijay Mallya had proposed to pay a settlement amount of Rs 6,868 crore, an offer that was turned down by the banks.
Mallya, however, had said to demonstrate his bonafide and also that of his companies, an aggregate of Rs 1591 crores can be deposited before the apex court.
A group of 18 banks, majority state-run, have asked the top court to help them recover the money owed by Kingfisher Airlines, which started as a ritzy carrier in 2005, and stopped operating in 2012 amid a stockpile of debt and unpaid wages.
Mallya has pegged his domestic assets at Rs 2,014 crore, overseas assets at Rs 748 crore. “Mallya can not claim the privilege of not disclosing details of his assets overseas”.
Hitting at the central government, Vijay Mallya said, “Recent actions of government confirm I am being prosecuted needlessly and wrongly prosecuted”. “Overseas assets were not considered while granting loans”, he said in his statement.
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A Mumbai court has also issued an arrest warrant against Mallya after he failed to appear before it in a cheque bounce case three times in a row.
