The liquor baron left India on March 2, AG tells apex court.
New Delhi : In a disclosure that raised several eyebrows, Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that the liquor baron Vijay Mallya left the country last week. Thus, once again the efforts of the authorities to net the ‘big fish’ have run aground.
“I am told by the CBI that he has left the country, possibly on March 2,” Rohatgi told the apex court bench comprising Justices Kurian Joseph and R F Nariman.
This revelation came as a surprise considering that a group of 17 banks had on Tuesday knocked at the doors of the Supreme Court asking it to stop Mallya from leaving India because of the massive dues that his grounded Kingfisher Airlines owes them.
Mallya, a member of the Rajya Sabha, had earlier said that he wants to move to Britain to be closer to his children. The court has now asked him to reply within two weeks why his passport should not be impounded. A notice is being served to the industrialist’s Rajya Sabha email ID through the Indian High Commission at London. The creditors, led by the State Bank of India, stepped up their efforts to recover around Rs. 7,000 crore in debts after Mallya last month resigned as chairman of India’s top spirits company United Spirits, a unit of UK-based Diageo.
On Monday, a court had blocked a $75 million or Rs. 515 crore settlement between Mallya and Diageo, which requires the businessman to step down as chairman of United Spirits. However, it now emerges, that a part of this money, which was to be paid in installments, has already been paid to Mallya.
About Rs.260 crores has been already transferred to the liquor baron’s accounts.
A question of jurisdiction
The huge bank loan recovery case has raised questions of jurisdiction–Mallya is a non-resident Indian and the payment to him was made by a foreign company. So, do Indian creditors have the right to that cash and can they block that payment? These matters will no doubt be dealt in the courts in the next few weeks and may set a precedent for others, say media reports.
