Even as Banks line up at SC for hearing, Kingfisher Mallya does a vanishing act, flees Country

March,9,2016: Industrialist Vijay Mallya left the country the day public sector banks, to whom he owed over Rs. 9000 crore in loans, moved the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) on March 2, 2016 against him.

Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for consortium of banks, revealed this when asked by the apex court about the whereabouts of Mr. Mallya.

Mr. Rohatgi told a Bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and Rohinton Nariman that he asked the CBI about Mr. Mallya, and in turn was informed that the Rajya Sabha MP had left Indian shores on March 2, the very day the banks approached the DRT.

Incidentally, the banks are before the Supreme Court with a plea to restrain him from leaving the country by ordering the seizure of his passport.

"There seems to be very little left for us," Justice Nariman remarked.

"This is the information CBI gave me," Mr. Rohatgi responded.

Mr. Rohatgi said the apex court to pass an order now directing Mr. Mallya to appear before this Bench, passport in hand.

"We are not behind his blood. We want to sit across him and get back our money. We want to settle the loans," Mr. Rohatgi said.

Mr. Rohatgi said the "only information" is on social media sites, which show that most of his assets are abroad. "Only a fraction is in India... may be one-fifth".

"Then how did you give these loans. Was there no secured assets on these loans?" Justice Kurian asked.

Mr. Rohatgi replied that at the time of the loans, Kingfisher Airlines was a brand at its peak, which had assets worth some thousand crores, and then "it crashed".

"We had some assets (as security) for the loans advanced," Mr. Rohatgi said.

The Bench then issued notice to Mr. Mallya through his company United Breweries Holdings Limited, his counsel, the Indian High Commissioner at the U.K. and via his official Rajya Sabha email address.

The court sought a reply in two weeks and fixed the hearing for March 30.

When Justice Kurian asked Mr. Rohatgi what guarantee was there that Mr. Mallya would be in the U.K. to receive notice, Mr. Rohatgi replied, "He has tremendous assets there. We know he would be there... most likely".

Meanwhile British liquor giant Diageo Plc said on Wednesday it had already paid industrialist Vijay Mallya Rs 269 crore of a RS 515 crore settlement plan on a day the Centre revealed the embattled tycoon had left India despite massive outstanding loans.

A spokesperson of Diageo, the world’s largest spirits maker, said in Mumbai the first tranche was paid to Mallya at the time of signing the agreement in February and that the next round of payments was due in 2017.

On Feb 25, when Diageo and Mallya announced the settlement that also saw his resignation as chairman of United Spirits, the UK-based liquor company had said, “Diageo will pay $40 million of this amount immediately with the balance being payable in equal instalments over five years. Diageo’s payment obligations are subject to Dr Mallya’s ongoing compliance with the terms of today’s agreement.”

The Diageo spokesperson reiterated that ‘immediately’ meant it was already paid. Hindu

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