Showing posts with label KINGFISHER AIRLINES. Show all posts
Showing posts with label KINGFISHER AIRLINES. Show all posts

Tuesday, 9 May 2017

SC holds Vijay Mallya guilty of contempt for transferring $40 mn to kids

Year End Specials, Demonetisation, Tata vs Mistry, Reliance Jio, Tata-DoCoMo, Singur verdict, Vijay Mallya, GST, RIL, ONGC, K-G Basin, Soft Bank, Nikesh Arora, Odd-Even, Kejriwal, Narendra Modi, Ranbaxy, Daiichi Sankyo, Call drops, TRAI

The Supreme Court today held businessman Vijay Mallya guilty of contempt of court for transferring $40 million to his children in violation of the court's order.

The apex court directed Mallya, who is presently in the United Kingdom, to appear before it on July 10 to argue on the quantum of punishment in the matter.

India had recently asked Britain to ensure early extradition of Mallya, who is an accused in a bank loan default case of over Rs 9000 crore involving his defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

"We have found respondent number 3 (Mallya) guilty of contempt of court on two grounds," a bench comprising Justices A K Goel and U U Lalit said.

The order came on a plea by consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI), which had said that Mallya had allegedly transferred $40 million received from British firm Diageo, to his children in "flagrant violation" of various judicial orders.

The apex court had on March 9 asked the liquor baron about the "truthfulness" of his disclosure of assets and the transfer of money to his children.

The bench had reserved its order on two pleas of lending banks seeking contempt action and a direction to Mallya to deposit USD 40 million received from offshore firm Diageo respectively.

The banks have alleged that Mallya concealed the facts and diverted the money to his son Siddharth Mallya and daughters Leanna Mallya and Tanya Mallya in "flagrant violation" of the orders passed by the Karnataka High Court.

The bench had also posed several queries to consortium of banks and asked it whether any criminal proceedings have been initiated against Mallya.

The court had asked Mallya as to why he did not disclose the receipt of $40 million from London-based company Diageo Plc and subsequent transfer of money to trusts to which his three children were the beneficiaries.

Vijay Mallya held guilty of contempt; SC asks him to appear in person

Vijay Mallya declared proclaimed offender

The Supreme Court today held businessman Vijay Mallya guilty of contempt of court for transferring USD 40 million to his children in violation of the court's order.

"We have found respondent number 3 (Mallya) guilty of contempt of court on two grounds," a bench comprising Justices A K Goel and U U Lalit said.

The apex court directed Mallya, who is presently in the United Kingdom, to appear before it on July 10 to argue on the quantum of punishment in the matter.

The order came on a plea by consortium of banks led by SBI, which had said that Mallya had allegedly transferred USD 40 million which he had received from British firm Diageo, to his children in "flagrant violation" of various judicial orders.

The 61-year-old Mallya, who lives in the United Kingdom and is facing extradition proceedings, is wanted in India for alleged loan default and money laundering worth more than Rs 9,000 crore.

Earlier this month, a joint team of the ED and CBI is in London to seek extradition of liquor baron Vijay Mallya.

The sources said the team would push for the extradition of Mallya, who fled to Britain in March 2016 after being pursued recovery of Rs 8,191 crore he owed to Indian banks by his now defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

The government has said that its agencies were making their best efforts to have Mallya face trial in India.

Mallya was arrested and granted bail in London last month. The next hearing of the case will be on May 17.

The Indian government had in February this year, handed over to British authorities a formal request for Mallya's extradition, saying it had a legitimate case against him on charges of financial irregularities and loan default.

Monday, 8 May 2017

Vijay Mallya consults 'formidable' lawyer to defend him in extradition case

Vijay Mallya

Beleaguered Indian businessman Vijay Mallya has consulted an award-winning lawyer, Claire Montgomery, the Queen’s Counsel, to fight the Indian government’s attempt to extradite him to India. Chambers & Partners, famous for ranking legal luminaries, described her as “the most formidable member of the bar”. Montgomery is likely to defend Mallya at forthcoming hearings in British courts.

India, it was reliably learned from a high level source, will adopt a strategy of trying to convince the British judiciary that Mallya committed fraud, so as to get him back to India. This was finalised at discussions between officials of India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Director of the Finance Ministry and Britain's Crown Prosecution Service lawyers in London.

In effect, what will be pursued is the CBI’s charge in India that Mallya, whose Kingfisher Airlines collapsed owing thousands of crores to various Indian banks, colluded with officials of IDBI Bank to obtain a loan of Rs 900 crore. The facility was allegedly granted despite the company’s “weak financial position and low credit rating”.

The extradition process between Britain and non-European Union countries, notwithstanding a 1993 treaty on the subject between the United Kingdom and

India, is long and tortuous. No absconder wanted by India under this agreement has involuntarily ever been repatriated by a British court, including people allegedly involved in acts of murder and terrorism.

Last year, Samirbhai Patel, said to be connected with the heinous 2002 Gujarat riots, returned of his own will. It is believed he did so thinking Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments at both Gujarat and the Centre may take a lenient view of his wrongdoing. This was indirectly an indictment of the present dispensation's human rights credentials.
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Thursday, 4 May 2017

Vijay Mallya row: India asks UK to ensure early extradition

Vijay Mallya

India on Thursday asked the United Kingdom to ensure early extradition of fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya who is facing cases of bank loan default to the tune of Rs 9,000 crore by his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi raised the issue of early completion of the extradition process of Mallya, during his talks here with his UK counterpart Patsy Wilkinson, the second permanent secretary in the the British Home Office.

The issue of presence of certain Sikh militant elements in the UK, sharing of intelligence inputs on a real-time basis particularly with regard to the ISIS - both from ISIS-held territories, and modules being busted in the UK and Europe, were also discussed at the two-hour-long meeting, official sources said.

Counter-terror cooperation between India and Britain besides a host of other issues figured in the parleys.

Matters relating to the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, strengthening of the intelligence-sharing mechanism and visa- related issues were also deliberated upon, the sources said.

61-year-old Mallya, who has been living in Britain since last year, was arrested by Scotland Yard last month on India's extradition request.

Within hours of his arrest, Mallya, who is accused of cheating and fraud, was released on bail by a London court.
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