A division bench of the Supreme Court of India, consisting of Justice UU Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat and PS Narasimha, today passed orders against former Rajya Sabha Member and fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya on a contempt case filed in 2017.
Court has sentenced Vijay Mallya to four months jail time and 2000 rupees fine.
According to the court order, Mallya should deposit 40 million dollars along with 8% interest within four weeks in order to avoid the attachment of properties. The amount is to be deposited to Supreme Court Legal Services Authority.
Failure to deposit the money would result in an extra jail time of two months along with attachments of all properties related to Vijay Mallya.
Court also gave a recovery officer in the case to take all necessary steps to recover the said amount and ensured the support and assistance of the government of India and all agencies in the process.
Contempt Case
A Contempt Case was filed against Vijay Mallya in 2017 by a bank consortium led by the State bank of India, alleging that Mallya diverted nearly 40 million dollars to bank accounts related to his son Siddharth Mallya, daughters, Leanna Mallya and Tanya Mallya.
According to bank consortium, this transaction by Vijay Mallya was a flagrant violation of the court order passed by the Karnataka High Court regarding the transaction of funds.
Supreme Court in 2017 found Vijay Mallya to be guilty of contempt charges. He was found guilty on charges of withholding information from the court about transferring $40 million to his children in violation of the court’s order, and for “flagrant violation” of orders passed by the Karnataka HC.
Since the court found him guilty in 2017, judges gave Mallya and his attorney multiple chances to appear before the court and make their case.
Extension of orders and deadlines dragged on the case for nearly 5 years till February 10th 2022 when the top court gave Mallya or his lawyers the last opportunity to appear in the contempt case.
After one month, on March 10th 2022, the 3 judge bench reserved their orders against Vijay Mallya in the contempt case.
Vijay Mallya, who is currently residing in the United Kingdom, is facing extradition charges. Various investigative agencies in India have charged him with money laundering, financial fraud and tax evasion.
After the collapse of Kingfisher Airlines, owned by him, Vijay Mallya defaulted on paying back nearly 1.13 billion dollars to a consortium of 17 banks.
