Supreme Court sentences Vijay Mallya to four months in contempt case
The Supreme Court on Monday sentenced fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya, an accused in the over Rs 9,000 crore bank loan fraud case, to four months in the 2017 contempt of court case. A bench headed by Justice UU Lalit also imposed a fine of Rs 2000 on Mallya in the case.
In this case, he did not share information about transferring $ 40 million (approximately Rs 3,17,32,78,240.00) to the accounts of his children in clear violation of court orders. The top court has asked Mallya to deposit this amount with interest, failing which his property will be attached.
The Supreme Court bench said, ‘Adequate punishment is necessary. Mallya has shown no remorse.” The court said that the fine is to be deposited within four weeks to the Supreme Court Legal Services Authority, failing which a further sentence of two months will be added.
“If it is not deposited, the Recovery Officer may take appropriate action to recover the said amount and the Government of India and all agencies should assist in that process,” the court order said.
Justice UU Lalit, Justice S. A Supreme Court bench of Ravindra Bhat and Justice PS Narasimha had on March 10 reserved its decision on fixing the quantum of sentence in the case and observed that there can be no progress in the trial against Mallya.
Mallya was convicted in 2017 for contempt. The apex court had dismissed the petition filed by Mallya in 2020 for reconsideration of the 2017 verdict.
The court convicted him of contempt for sending $40 million to his children’s accounts defying court orders.
Mallya is accused of defaulting on a bank loan of Rs 9,000 crore in respect of his already defunct Kingfisher Airlines. He is accused of taking loan from banks for his Kingfisher airline company and escaped without repaying it.
Earlier, the Center had informed the court that though Vijay Mallya’s extradition has been allowed from the UK, he cannot be brought to India due to some “secret” proceedings against him. The center does not have the information about the details of this action.
He has been living in the UK since March 2016. On 18 April 2017, Scotland Yard granted him bail on an extradition warrant.
Vijay Mallya’s company Kingfisher Airlines had taken a total loan of Rs 7,800 crore from 17 banks between 2004 and 2012. Mallya had given a personal guarantee to the banks while seeking a loan for Kingfisher Airlines.
A consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India had moved the apex court alleging that Mallya was not complying with the court’s orders on repayment of loans of over Rs 9,000 crore.
It was also alleged that he was not disclosing the assets and was also transferring them to his children in contravention of the court orders, following which the court held him guilty of contempt in 2017.
It is to be known that in April 2020, while giving relief to Vijay Mallya, the London High Court had adjourned the hearing on the petition of a group of Indian banks led by State Bank of India (SBI), which sought to declare the debt-burdened businessman as insolvent. The demand was made so that the debt of about 1.145 billion pounds (Rs 10,837 crore) could be recovered from him.
