Vijay Mallya’s petition in India won’t stop UK insolvency proceedings: SC

The Supreme Court on Monday clarified that businessman Vijay Mallya, who faces charges of financial irregularities amounting to over Rs 9,000 crore, cannot use pendency of his plea regarding repayment plan in Supreme Court to stall proceedings in other jurisdiction.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde passed the order after the Centre told the top court that Mallya used pendency of his plea to stall the UK court from delivering verdict in insolvency proceedings.

Mallya had approached the apex court on June 27 seeking a stay on the confiscation of properties owned by him and his relatives.

A consortium of 13 banks, led by SBI, have filed a bankruptcy petition before a UK court seeking an order against liquor Mallya over the alleged unpaid debt of around Rs 9,000 crore. Besides SBI, the 13 Indian banks include Bank of Baroda, Corporation bank, Federal Bank Ltd, IDBI Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Jammu & Kashmir Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of Mysore, UCO Bank, United Bank of India and JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Co. Pvt Ltd.

In July, the banks had won a High Court battle to access documents they were after to establish the true ownership of assets they believed were linked with the embattled liquor tycoon.

Two superyachts, a game reserve in South Africa, numerous undeclared high-value and vintage cars, valuable paintings and a piano previously owned by famous British singer-songwriter Elton John were among some of the assets on their target list.

Mallya’s legal team has argued that the petition for bankruptcy in the UK should be dismissed because the banks are pursuing the same debt through the Indian courts.

Mallya, who founded the now-defunct Kingfisher airlines, fled to Britain in March 2016 after facing accusations of financial irregularities amounting to over Rs 9,000 crore. Mallya has consistently claimed that the charges he faces are baseless and fabricated and the Centre refused to take him up on his offer to clear his loans.