London: Absconding tycoon Vijay Mallya has lost a major lawsuit in UK. It was filed by Indian banks which are seeking to collect more than $1.55 billion in claims, reports CNN IBN. Significantly, the judge also refused to overturn a worldwide order freezing Mallya’s assets and upheld a Karnataka debt tribunal’s ruling that a consortium of 13 Indian banks were entitled to recover funds amounting to nearly Rs 10,404 crore from the businessman.
The verdict will enable the banks to enforce the debt tribunal’s judgment against Mallya and make recoveries from his assets in England and Wales. Mallya cannot remove any of these assets in any way, or dispose them of.
Among the parties to the litigation were the State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Corporation Bank, Federal Bank Ltd, IDBI Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Jammu & Kashmir Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of Mysore, UCO Bank, United Bank of India and JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Co. Pvt Ltd.
The claim relates to a judgment of the debt recovery tribunal in Karnataka, which concluded that Mallya was “liable” to pay the banks a sum of INR 62,033,503,879.42 plus interest.The UK court had earlier upheld the Indian court’s injunction and given Mallya’s lawyers more time to respond due to the ongoing extradition trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London, which is now set for a hearing on July 11.Lawyers for Mallya declined to comment after the hearing. The judge has also refused Mallya permission to appeal Tuesday’s ruling, meaning his attorneys will have to directly petition the Court of Appeal.
Mallya was arrested in London April 18 on a warrant issued by Indian authorities accusing him of conspiring to defraud the IDBI Bank.