London: Vijay Mallya on Wednesday failed to convince a UK High Court to dismiss an order related to money in one of his London bank accounts, dealing a blow to the embattled liquor tycoon’s efforts to prevent a consortium of Indian banks getting access to nearly 260,000 pounds.
In one of the many legal cases being faced by the 63-year-old liquor tycoon in the UK, Master David Cook ruled that an interim debt order in favour of SBI and other banks seeking access to funds in the ICICI UK bank account “should remain in force” but that the application to make it final should be adjourned until after the hearing of Mallya’s pending bankruptcy petition.
The funds in the account will meanwhile remain frozen as part of the worldwide freezing order in favour of the Indian banks last year. Mallya’s lawyers had argued for the dismissal of the interim order on a number of grounds, including a claim that it was a “deliberate ploy” to prevent Mallya “reasonable” living expenses.
