SC agrees to hear Mallya’s plea against ‘fugitive’ tag

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear liquor baron VijayMallya's plea against the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED’s) move to declare him a “fugitive economic offender”, and thus confiscate his assets. The apex court, however, refused to stay the proceedings against him in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai.

Mallya had approached the apex court after the Bombay High Court (BHC) had, last month, refused to stay proceedings against him in the PMLA court.

Earlier this year, ED had moved an application in the PMLA court seeking to declare Mallya a fugitive economic offender, and confiscate assets worth ~125 billion. Mallya, however, had opposed the plea in the BHC, stating he should not be declared a fugitive as he was not involved in any money laundering case.

In his petition before the apex court on Friday, Mallya said he was not a fugitive as there were much bigger willful defaulters than him.

The billionaire businessman's petition before the court comes a dayafter he said he wanted to "stop the narrative" that he had stolen money, and was ready to pay back 100 per cent of the principal amount due to the banks. He had also complained of not getting a fair treatment, and of people being unaware about the comprehensive settlement offer he had placed before the Karnataka HC.

Mallya said he had placed assets worth ~140 billion before the court and the banks and ED were fighting among themselves to gain control over the assets.

“With respect, I have placed ~140 billion worth of assets in front of Court as the ED and Banks (both under Government control) are fighting over the same assets. What do I do without Court intervention?” Mallya tweeted. The billionaire businessman, who had left India in 2016, faces charges of defrauding-Indian-banks to the tune of up to ~90 billion. He also faces extradition to India from the UK to stand trial for the charges of the financial irregularities.