A fresh reprimand came by way of Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) which passed an order by allowing the consortium of bankers led by State Bank of India to recover their debt of Rs 6,203 crore from the businessman who has defaulted payment to banks.
Mallya who has moved to UK is on the run and has been avoiding being booked for defaulting lenders over Rs. 9,000 crore. The current DRT order passed in favour of the lending consortium will permit them to start the recovery proceedings and seize his properties. The Banks had moved the DRT in 2013 for recovery of dues from the Kingfisher Airlines. Three other applications were also filed by SBI which included, one seeking arrest of Mallya and confiscating his passport. Mallya, who left India on March 2 last year and is now in the UK, has been declared a Proclaimed Offender by a special PMLA court in Mumbai on the request of Enforcement Directorate in connection with its money laundering probe in an alleged bank loan default case. The DRT had on 7th of March last year permitted Mallya to withdraw $75 million exit payment from British liquior giant Diageo for quitting Diageo-owned United Spirits (USL) as its Chairman in an amicable deal.
On July 13, the tribunal declared that the order had become “infructuous” as $40 million had already been transferred prior to the March 7 order. Later, through passing orders on another IA, the tribunal had directed Diageo Plc to deposit with it the remaining $35 million of the earlier amicable settlement made. Also, on July 16, DRT allowed another IA of the Bankers for lifting of corporate cover to avoid the possible protection claimed under personal liability enjoyed by individuals controlling Kingfisher Finvest, a holding company of Mallya.
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