The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed liquor baron Vijay Mallya to respond within three weeks on whether he had transferred to his children the entire sum of USD 40 million received from Diageo for selling his stake in United Spirits.
A consortium of banks led by State Bank of India laid this charge against Mallya as part of a contempt petition filed by them in the apex court. They alleged that Mallya had transferred the said amount, estimated at around `2,700 crore, at a time when he had an outstanding amount of `6,200 crore to be deposited with the banks as per the Court’s orders. In this connection, the Court had even sought a detailed list of properties owned by Mallya and his family.
A bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and AM Khanwilkar asked Mallya’s counsel to respond to the charge by filing an affidavit in three weeks and posted the matter for hearing next on February 2. Attorney General who had earlier appeared for the banks had submitted that the USD 40 million received by Mallya belonged to the banks, which are stashed in foreign bank accounts held by the businessman.