The Supreme Court on Tuesday did just what liquor baron Vijay Mallya wished not to. The apex court made the details of his personal assets held in India and abroad worth Rs 2,017 crore besides that of his wife and children — the value of which was not disclosed —open to the banks. Mallya had refused to share the details of his assets with the banks, preferring to submit it in a sealed cover to the Supreme Court.
The court has thus strengthened the hands of the law enforcement agencies to pursue the money laundering charges against Mallya after it came to the conclusion that the “NRI” businessman had failed to establish “bonafides” to repay the loan or return to the country in near future. Mallya’s lawyer maintained the tycoon was an NRI and didn’t require to disclose his assets.
The banks, which lent Mallya’s now-defunct company Kingfisher Airlines with loans that led to a bad debt account of over Rs 9,000 crore, had time and again stressed on getting a full list of his properties in India and abroad as also the assets held in the name of his estranged wife and children in order to agree to the liquor baron’s proposal for a fair and reasonable negotiated settlement of his dues. The SC had on April 7 demanded the liquor baron to disclose information of his personal and family assets in a sealed cover.
Seeking information in the sealed cover to be disclosed to the banks, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, espousing the cause of the banks, argued that Mallya did not honour the court’s order by keeping details of his assets confidential, failing to make an offer that can be realised, and refusing to give a date when he will appear in court.
The Bench opened the cover and discovered that Mallya declared his personal assets of Rs 2,017.36 crore along with the properties held by his wife and children received from his family trust started by his father in 1981. His counsel CS Vaidyanathan sought confidentiality over the information and offered that in addition to his earlier offer to pay Rs 4,400 crore, he was willing to deposit Rs 1,591 crore to be realised from sale of shares in group companies and a component of refund to be received from Airbus. In addition, he put on offer a sum of Rs 1,329 crore that was pledged with various courts which could be available if the apex court ordered for release from the respective courts.
Reacting to the offer, the Bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and Rohington F Nariman told Vaidyanathan, “You are willing to offer not even one rupee… All this exercise we had undertaken to see to what extent banks can go and to what extent you can go. Unless the banks have access to information, how can they be expected to recoverIJ” The court accordingly directed the sealed cover submitted by Mallya to be handed over to the banks. It further directed the proceedings for recovery of debt pending before the Bangalore Debt Recovery Tribunal to be decided within two months.
Mallya’s lawyers informed the court that the haste shown by banks is proof that their intention is not to settle dues but to get their client arrested. “The Attorney-General is wearing two hats — one for Centre and one for banks. I am an NRI and I need not disclose my assets. The design seems to be to obtain details of assets in a civil proceeding and utilize it in the pending criminal proceedings (by ED).” The lawyers made a statement that none of the properties in the name of Mallya’s children or wife was benami. A-G retorted by suggesting that was something for the law enforcement agencies to find out.
During the proceedings, the court repeatedly asked Mallya when he would appear. Though his counsels said they had no instruction in this regard, they pointed to the fact that his passport stood revoked by Centre and he faced non-bailable warrant from a lower court on ED’s request. “The attempt is evident from this that the banks want to put him in jail. looking at what has happened elsewhere, I know what will happen to me,” Vaidyanathan said.