UK court orders Vijay Mallya to pay 200,000 pounds to Indian banks

UK court orders Vijay Mallya to pay 200,000 pounds to Indian banks

The UK High Court has ordered liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya to pay a minimum of 200,000 pounds towards the costs incurred by 13 Indian banks in their legal battle to recover alleged dues.

Last month, Judge Andrew Henshaw had refused to overturn a worldwide order freezing Mallya’s assets and upheld an Indian court’s ruling that a consortium of 13 Indian banks led by State Bank of India (SBI) were entitled to recover funds amounting to nearly 1.145 billion pounds.

As part of the judgment, the court has also ordered Mallya, 62, to pay costs towards registration of the worldwide freezing order and of the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) of Karnataka’s judgment in Britain.

The consortium of 13 Indian banks which have been entitled to recover their dues from Mallya are, State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Corporation Bank, Federal Bank Ltd, IDBI Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Jammu and Kashmir Bank, Punjab and Sind Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of Mysore, UCO Bank, United Bank of India and JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Co. Pvt Ltd.

Also Read : Vijay Mallya loses case; foreign assets to be sold by banks

Alongside the debt recovery case, Mallya is also fighting an extradition to India on fraud and money laundering charges worth an estimated Rs 9,000 crores. He has filed an appeal notice at the Court of Appeal, submitting an application for permission to appeal.

An appeal will only be granted in case the court considers that the said appeal would have a prospect of success or some other compelling reason for which the appeal should be heard.

The final hearing in the extradition case is likely to take place on July 31, which was earlier scheduled for July 11 at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

Mallya remains on bail since his arrest on an extradition warrant in April 2017.

Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) representing the Indian authorities believes that there are no bars to Mallya’s extradition to face the Indian courts.

Meanwhile, Mallya’s defence lawyers have claimed that the criminal charges against their client are “without substance” and “politically motivated”. The defence has further raised a question on the conditions at Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai, where the business is likely to be held once extradited to India.