The TOI correspondent from London: Fugitive Indian businessman Vijay Mallya’s barrister told a London court that the banks pursuing Mallya are “acting in bad faith” and not being transparent as he made a failed attempt to adjourn Mallya’s appeal hearing against his bankruptcy order in the London high court on the first day of its hearing on Tuesday.
Alastair Tomson, representing Mallya, told the court that Mallya’s writ petition in the high court of Karnataka on Feb 5 could “soon” lead to “new evidence” relevant to whether the bankruptcy order should ever have been made and applied for the appeal hearing to be adjourned.
Judge Sir Anthony Mann dismissed the adjournment application on the spot, questioning how long a case in India would take to reach 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 said.
He also did not allow late evidence from Mallya, which included the writ petition.
Mallya was declared bankrupt by the insolvency and companies courtin London on July 26, 2021 for failing to clear a judgment debt of £1.05 billion (Rs 11,499 crore) determined by the Debt Recovery Tribunal, Karnataka, in 2017, which was registered in the English courts.
Tomson said that Mallya believes that the State Bank of India (SBI)-led consortium pursued bankruptcy proceedings against him “in bad faith”, the banks have made recoveries which “satisfied the judgment debt twice over”, and incorrect information was given in various proceedings.
He said Mallya believes the “consortium has concealed and misrepresented the details of recoveries made” and that there is “no accountability of the assets recovered.” He said they have suppressed facts and at the same time taken advantage of accruing interest, 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 said.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman made a statement in Parliament in Dec 2024 detailing banks had recovered Rs 14,131.6 crore from Mallya. This triggered Mallya to write to the chief manager of SBI on Dec 24, 2024, in which he criticised the way banks got a worldwide freeze order against him in and asserted that SBI was involved in “deception” by realising his assets whilst allowing interest on the judgment debt to accrue, Tomson said. SBI has not responded.
Tony Beswetherick KC, representing the banks, opposed the adjournment and new evidence and said there is no evidence the Karnataka high court will grant the relief sought.
Mallya (69) switched law firms last week and instructed Zaiwalla & Co.
The chancery division of the high court is hearing three appeals combined into one hearing this week. The banks are appealing having to file an amended bankruptcy petition whilst Mallya is appealing the bankruptcy order and the amended petition.