Breaking News Business Header Slider Headline News

Banks ask Supreme Court to stop Vijay Mallya From Leaving India

The SBI and other banks on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court with a plea to prevent Vijay Mallya from leaving the country. Vijay Mallya should not be allowed to leave India, a consortium of 17 public sector banks said in a petition to the Supreme Court Today. The court is expected to take up the petition tomorrow. Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines, which stopped flying more than three years ago, had $1.4 billion or Rs 9,400 crore in debts as of September 2013, according to corporate filings from the time.

After resigning as chairman of United Spirits last month, Mr Mallya said he wanted to spend more time in England. “Having recently turned 60, I have decided to spend more time in England, closer to my children,” he had said in a statement.A debt recovery tribunal had on Monday halted a $75 million (Rs 515 crore) settlement to be paid by spirits giant Diageo to liquor baron Vijay Mallya, after he resigned as chairman of Diageo unit United Spirits. The court – the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) – ruled in favour of a group of creditor banks, owed money by Mr Mallya’s now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, and who had argued they had the “first right” to the Rs 515 crore exit payment from Diageo.

The tribunal’s decision is based on a petition by the State Bank of India or SBI, which is owed Rs 1,600 crore by Kingfisher. Mr Mallya said in a statement on Sunday that he is in talks with a group of 17 banks for a one-time settlement of Kingfisher’s debt, adding that he has no plans to run away from his creditors. A money-laundering case was also filed against Vijay Mallya by the Enforcement Directorate on Monday for allegedly sending abroad Rs 900 crore that he borrowed from a bank. In 2012, Mr Mallya sold United Spirits to Britain’s Diageo; after months of acrimony, he agreed last month to give up his chairmanship and board position at India’s top spirits company.