SC to hear Mallya’s review plea to transfer USD 40 mn to his children on Aug 20

PTI, Aug 6, 2020, 3:15 PM IST

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Thursday, August 6 said that it would hear on August 20 the petition filed by businessman Vijay Mallya, who has sought review of its 2017 order holding him guilty of contempt of court for transferring USD 40 million to his children.

The matter came up for hearing through video-conferencing before a bench comprising Justices U U Lalit and Ashok Bhushan, which adjourned it as one of the documents was not available on the record.

The apex court had in June directed its registry to explain as to why Mallya’s review petition had not been listed before the concerned court for the last three years.

It had directed the registry to furnish all the details including names of officials who had dealt with the file concerning the review petition in the last three years.

The fugitive businessman had filed the petition seeking review of the apex court’s May 9, 2017 order by which he was held guilty of contempt of court for transferring USD 40 million to his children in violation of the order.

Mallya, who is an accused in a bank loan default case of over Rs 9,000 crore involving his defunct Kingfisher Airlines, is presently in the United Kingdom.

The apex court’s 2017 order had come on a plea by a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI), which had said that Mallya had allegedly transferred USD 40 million received from British firm Diageo, to his children in “flagrant violation” of various judicial orders.

It was dealing with pleas of lending banks seeking contempt action and a direction to Mallya to deposit USD 40 million received from offshore firm Diageo respectively.

The banks had then alleged that Mallya concealed the facts and diverted the money to his son Siddharth Mallya and daughters Leanna Mallya and Tanya Mallya in “flagrant violation” of the orders passed by the Karnataka High Court.

Mallya had in May lost his application seeking leave to appeal his extradition to India in the UK Supreme Court, setting a 28-day clock on his removal from the UK.

The UK top court’s decision marks a big legal setback to the 64-year-old flamboyant businessman, who had earlier lost his high court appeal against an extradition order to India on charges of alleged fraud and money laundering related to unrecovered loans to his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

Mallya has been based in the UK since March 2016 and remains on bail on an extradition warrant executed three years ago by Scotland Yard on April 18, 2017.