Banks plead with SC to reject Mallya's petitions

Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi on Thursday told the Supreme Court (SC) that the government was trying its best to extradite liquor baron Vijay Mallya, and till he appeared in court, none of his petitions should be entertained.
 
Rohatgi, representing the consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India, was addressing the court on the concluding day of a contempt hearing against Mallya, who is in England. While reserving its order on the petition moved by the consortium, the court did not give any date for the verdict.
 
Mallya, chairman of the UB Group, left India on March 2 last year after a group of 17 banks revealed that he owed them Rs 9,000 crore. The banks had moved SC to prevent him from leaving the country, but he had already flown. The Enforcement Directorate has also filed a case of money laundering against him.

 

During the arguments, Shyam Divan, counsel of the banks, claimed Mallya had salted away $40 million that he got by selling shares in UB to Diageo by transferring it to trusts in the name of his three children who live abroad. Attorney-General Rohatgi claimed that though SC had asked Mallya to reveal all his assets, including what he got from the Diageo deal, he had provided only vague information.
 
Divan said Mallya had violated orders of both the Karnataka High Court and SC. He added people facing contempt proceedings had to be present in court by Mallya was prevaricating.

 
Mallya’s councel C S Vaidyanathan denied all allegations and asserted that his client had already disclosed whatever assets he had.
 
“He is treated like a criminal in a civil case for no apparent reason and he has been singled out for this treatment,” said Vaidyanathan.
 
The senior advocate also said the loans had been incurred due to a number of reasons. For instance, Kingfisher Airlines made losses because of fluctuating fuel prices.