The special court has held that the overall conduct of Vijay Mallya suggest his refusal to return to India to face criminal prosecution, while declaring him a “fugitive economic offender” — the first such designation under the Fugitive Economic Offenders (FEO) Act, 2018 — earlier this week.
In June 2018, while the Act was still an Ordinance, the Enforce-ment Directorate (ED) had moved a plea before the special court seeking that Mallya be declared a fugitive economic offender. It had also asked that his properties, including those indirectly controlled by him, be confiscated.
Judge M S Azmi, in his order, said that if the submission of Mallya was taken to be true in its entirety that he had left the country for a scheduled meeting and had not gone secretly or illegally and hurriedly to avoid arrest, then “it would not be sufficient to hold that he is not a FEO as per the Act”. “The date of leaving India by Mr Mallya is March 2, 2016 on that date admittedly there was an offence registered by CBI and ED,” it added. Mallya had told the court that he was attending a motor sports council meeting in Geneva.
The court said if Mallya’s contention was presumed to be true that he had departed India to attend a pre-scheduled meeting and was a law-abiding citizen, then he would have immediately informed the authorities about the schedule to return to India.
