Businessman Vijay Mallya, who fled India after defaulting on loans worth thousands of crores, has filed a petition in the Karnataka High Court. The petitioner sought the release of account statements related to the loans he had taken, saying that the banks have recovered much more than the original loan amount from him.
He has also asked to be informed how much amount has been raised from his company, UBHL, and other companies put into liquidation. The court recently considered this petition, but the arguments presented by Mallya's legal team have been considered. The Kingfisher Airlines founder had taken loans amounting to about Rs 6,200 crores from banks but Mallya's lawyer told the court that banks have already recovered Rs 14,000 crores.
According to a statement by Mallya's lawyer, Finance Minister's remarks in Lok Sabha came to know that the banks have recovered assets worth Rs 14,131 crores from him. The recovery officer also pointed out that Mallya had already repaid about Rs 10,200 crores of the loan but the recovery process is still going on. Mallya's lawyers have asked the court to pass an order for a stay on the recovery proceedings, claiming that the loan has largely been repaid. They have further asked the court to produce all statements of account of the banks for its examination.
Hearing both sides of the argument, Karnataka High Court sent notices to ten banks which included State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) demanding their response. The court gave them a time until February 13 to produce responses.
Meanwhile, the fraud allegations against Mallya related to the loan case of Kingfisher Airlines do not seem to fade away. Mallya had escaped India in March 2016 and is currently staying in the UK. The Indian government is actively pursuing his extradition back to India to face charges against him. In this sense, Mallya's petition to the Karnataka High Court is important as the court is now awaiting the banks' response.
