Declining to reveal the details of his assets overseas to banks, liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who is facing a multi-agency probe including for alleged money laundering, told the Supreme Court on Thursday that the banks cannot lay claim to foreign assets.
Mallya, whose now-defunct group company Kingfisher Airlines owes over Rs 9,000 crore to 17 banks, had left the country on March 2 and is believed to be in the UK.
In an affidavit filed in the apex court, the Rajya Sabha MP held that since his wife and children were US citizens, it exempted them from making any asset disclosures. He however agreed to submit the details of assets held by him to the court, according a report in The Indian Express.
Mallya added that he is willing to deposit Rs 1,590 crore as a token amount if the court agreed to intervene in pending cases against him so that he can sell his stake in some of the businesses facing litigation.
“Can pay token money only if SC intervenes in pending cases, can’t pay until SC allows sale of shares stuck in litigation,” said Mallya, adding that Kingfisher Airline was a business failure beyond his control.
Mallya, whose diplomatic passport was recently suspended, said media trial was responsible for the ‘unseemly haste’ of the government action.
Meanwhile, armed with a non-bailable arrest warrant against him, the enforcement directorate has approached the External Affairs Ministry seeking initiation of deportation proceedings against Mallya in connection with its money laundering probe against him in the Rs 900 crore IDBI alleged loan fraud case.
A local Hyderabad court had on Wednesday convicted Mallya in a cheque-bouncing case filed against him by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. The court, however, did not pronounce the quantum of punishment as the industrialist , who left the country last month, was not present in the court, Mallya's lawyer H Sudhakar Rao said.
The quantum of punishment is expected to be pronounced on May 5 by the court, GMR lawyer Ashok Reddy said.
(With PTI inputs)
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