The Hyderabad court has directed the NBW to be executed by April 13 after Mallya and senior officials of Kingfisher Airlines failed to appear in the court on March 10. The court had asked them to appear before it to hear 11 cases involving Rs 8 crore dues to GMR by the airline, PTI reported on Sunday. Mallya, who is reportedly in the UK, has been pursued by as many as 17 banks to recover loans to the tune of Rs 7,200 crore. State Bank of India (SBI) leads the consortium of banks that lent Kingfisher Airlines and Mallya funds, before the airline shut in 2012.
"Yes, there was trouble in the account, the account was already stressed. He wanted another opportunity to try and turn it around. We felt it was right for him to get that opportunity, but just as we risked money, we also asked that he put in a personal guarantee," SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya told Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7's Walk the Talk programme. "That's the reason why we have gone to him and not only after the assets of Kingfisher Airlines, because the guarantee was given by him, a guarantee was given by the holding company. We are going to go for recovery against all three."
Also Read
Mallya's latest trouble comes close on the heels of a Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe into the money-laundering angle in the Rs 900-crore loan given by IDBI Bank to the airline bypassing an internal committee that recommended against it. Mallya has to be present before the ED on March 18. The ED has already questioned Kingfisher Airlines chief financial officer (CFO) A Raghunathan and U B Group CFO Ravi Nedungadi in the case, which is also being looked into by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The labour ministry has also decided to probe the possible violations by the defunct airline in depositing provident fund (PF) dues. Kingfisher Airlines employees have alleged the airline deposited PF dues of employees while not paying monthly salaries for 900 workers. "We have not examined the issue so far. I will look into that. We will examine (all the issues)," Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya told PTI.
Meanwhile, the finance ministry on Sunday promised to apply "full force of law" for wilful defaulters. "We have some people... that have genuinely engaged in illegal activity. All the investigative agencies are working in that regard to ensure that they have to be brought to justice," PTI quoted Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha as saying.
Responding to widespread media coverage of cases against him, Mallya tweeted: "I am being hunted down by media in UK. Sadly they did not look in the obvious place. I will not speak to media so don't waste your efforts."
Mallya has taken pains to defend that he would abide by India's laws and would return to the country.
"I'm an international businessman. I travel to and from India frequently. I did not flee from India and neither am I an absconder. Rubbish," he had tweeted last week.
Meanwhile, Kirit Somaiya, a Bharatiya Janata Party MP and a member of Parliament's Finance Committee and Public Accounts Committee, said the sale of assets by Mallya in the past few years should be probed. The complex money transfer between various Mallya entities in India, United Spirits and Virgin Island entities should also be looked into, he added.