Vijay Mallya claims in London court that Indian banks pursuing him are ‘acting in bad faith’ | India News

The TOI correspondent from London: Fugitive Indian businessman Vijay Mallya’s barrister informed a London court that the banks pursuing Mallya are “acting in bad faith” and never being clear as he made a failed try to adjourn Mallya’s enchantment listening to towards his chapter order in the London excessive court on the primary day of its listening to on Tuesday.
Alastair Tomson, representing Mallya, informed the court that Mallya’s writ petition in the excessive court of Karnataka on Feb 5 might “soon” result in “new evidence” related as to if the chapter order ought to ever have been made and utilized for the enchantment listening to to be adjourned.
Judge Sir Anthony Mann dismissed the adjournment software on the spot, questioning how lengthy a case in India would take to achieve its conclusion. “Anecdotal evidence shows me ‘soon’ in Indian courts is not necessarily soon. A lot of cases take a long time in India,” Mann mentioned.
He additionally didn’t permit late proof from Mallya, which included the writ petition.
Mallya was declared bankrupt by the insolvency and firms courtin London on July 26, 2021 for failing to clear a judgment debt of £1.05 billion (Rs 11,499 crore) decided by the Debt Recovery Tribunal, Karnataka, in 2017, which was registered in the English courts.
Tomson mentioned that Mallya believes that the State Bank of India (SBI)-led consortium pursued chapter proceedings towards him “in bad faith”, the banks have made recoveries which “satisfied the judgment debt twice over”, and incorrect info was given in varied proceedings.
He mentioned Mallya believes the “consortium has concealed and misrepresented the details of recoveries made” and that there’s “no accountability of the assets recovered.” He mentioned they’ve suppressed details and on the similar time taken benefit of accruing curiosity, which is “unprecedented in debt recovery”. “The intent of these extortionate actions is to recover far in excess of what is due to the petitioners, which is arbitrary, unlawful and unconstitutional,” Tomson mentioned.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman made a press release in Parliament in Dec 2024 detailing banks had recovered Rs 14,131.6 crore from Mallya. This triggered Mallya to jot down to the chief supervisor of SBI on Dec 24, 2024, in which he criticised the way in which banks obtained a worldwide freeze order towards him in and asserted that SBI was concerned in “deception” by realising his belongings while permitting curiosity on the judgment debt to accrue, Tomson mentioned. SBI has not responded.
Tony Beswetherick KC, representing the banks, opposed the adjournment and new proof and mentioned there is no such thing as a proof the Karnataka excessive court will grant the reduction sought.
Mallya (69) switched regulation corporations final week and instructed Zaiwalla & Co.
The chancery division of the excessive court is listening to three appeals mixed into one listening to this week. The banks are interesting having to file an amended chapter petition while Mallya is interesting the chapter order and the amended petition.