Consortium of banks asks SC to keep Mallya in India

NEW DELHI: Worried about the fate of their loans worth thousands of crores given to the nowdefunct Kingfisher Airlines, a consortium of banks moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking to restrain industrialist Vijay Mallya from leaving India.

Attor ney general Mukul Rohatgi sought an urgent hearing of the petition filed by 13 banks, including SBI, which also sought impounding of Mallya’s passport. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur agreed to hear it on Wednesday.

The banks’ move came a day after the ED registered a moneylaundering case against Mallya and a debt recovery tribunal (DRT) barred him from touching the `515 crore he got from selling a liquor company till the matter was decided. The ED case is based on a CBI probe into alleged “wilful default” by the high- flying promoter of Kingfisher Airlines on a ` 900-crore loan.

SBI had approached the DRT in Bangalore to restrain Mallya from withdrawing the `515 crore he got as a severance package from the Londonbased Diageo. Mallya had quit the chairmanship of Indian company United Spirits Ltd last month.

Banks owed money by King fisher Airlines have demanded “first right” to the Diageo cash.

“The banks argued that they were left with unpaid debt worth Rs 7,000 crore when the company collapsed more than three years ago.SBI declared Mallya — once known as “The King of Good Times” for his flashy lifestyle and lavish parties — a wilful defaulter last month. A wilful defaulter is one who uses borrowed funds for purposes other than those they were meant for. SBI and other banks have also appealed to the Karnataka high court that the businessman be arrested and his passport impounded.

Earlier, former Kingfisher Airlines employees had written an open letter blaming Mallya for the grounding of the carrier and damaging the country’s reputation in the aviation industry.