The ‘King of Good Times’ Vijay Mallya flew out of India on 2nd March. The reason as per Indian media reports: He hasn’t been able to repay his loans over Rs 9000 crores that he owes to India’s public sector banks.
Mallya fled the country and flew to London even as the public sector banks of India knocked at the doors of Tribunal and India’s Supreme Court to undo the damage.
The public sector banks moved the apex court on Tuesday to restrain Mallya from leaving India and to seize his passport. Indian Attorney General, Mukul Rohatgi, appearing on the behalf of the banks, also sought an arrest warrant against the Indian liquor baron and a security deposit to ensure his presence before the tribunal in Bengaluru.
Indian tycoon’s Kingfisher Airlines was grounded four years ago. He is facing several inquiries including suspected money laundering and financial irregularities. His company has also failed to pay salaries to hundreds of his airline staff.
Mallya recently sold his liquor company, UB Spirits to multinational spirits company Diageo and is to receive Rs 515 crore as severance package.
However, the recent events have led the Debt Recovery Tribunal to pass an order barring Mallya from accessing Rs 515 crore severance package.
India’s topmost public sector banks like the State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Axis Bank and several others have now joined hands and approached Supreme Court.
When Justice Kurian Joseph asked: "Was there no secured assets on these loans?”, Rohatgi replied that when the loans were granted, Kingfisher Airlines was a brand at its peak, with assets worth some thousand crores, and then “it crashed”. On Wednesday, Rohtagi told the court that Mallya is likely to be in London. “He has tremendous assets there," he said. "We know he would be there... most likely.” “We’ll issue notice and then see,” the court said, while giving Mallya two weeks to respond.
Quartz India reported that Mallya has been issued a notice through his through his company United Breweries (Holdings) Limited, his lawyers, his official Rajya Sabha email address and the Indian High Commission in London.
The court will hear the case on March 30.
Mallya’s ‘expensive’ buys:
In January 2016, even as he was struggling to pay his dues, Mallya spent a whopping Rs 9.5 crore to get Australian all-rounder Shane Watson to play for his Royal Challengers Bangalore Indian Premier League cricket team. He also owns a 41.5% stake in the Force F1 team.
