Business tycoon Vijay Mallya, who owes crores of rupees to more than a dozen banks and is wanted by the Enforcement Directorate for money laundering, has fled India.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, who represents a consortium of 13 banks which loaned a whopping Rs 9000 crore to Mallya, informed the Supreme Court today that the liquor baron fled India on March 2.
Rohatgi cited CBI inputs in making that statement. Mallya had recently expressed a desire to settle down in London.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court, acting on the banks' plea, issued a notice to Mallya seeking the disclosure of his assets and seizure of his passport. Mallya has two weeks to reply to the notice, which will be served to him through the Indian High Commission in London.
Mallya's now defunct Kingfisher Airline owes the consortium a whopping Rs 9,000 crore, including compound interest over the remaining combined loans of Rs 7,800 crore borrowed between 2004-12 before it was grounded and shut down subsequently.
On Monday, moments before the Enforcement Directorate in Mumbai lodged the money laundering case, the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) in Bengaluru barred British liquor giant Diageo from paying Mallya a payout of Rs 515 crore till a case against him was disposed off.
The consortium of banks had challenged the Karnataka High Court's March 4 refusal to pass an interim order restraining Mallya from leaving the country and impounding his passport.
The High Court, instead of passing an interim order restraining Mallya from leaving the country, had asked him, Diageo Holding Netherlands B.V., Diageo Holdings and United Spirits Ltd to file their objections to the banks' plea, the banks said in their plea before the apex court.
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