United Bank of India to summon Vijay Mallya before declaring him wilful defaulter

KOLKATA: City-based United Bank of India (UBI) will ask chairman of grounded Kingfisher Airlines Vijay Mallya to appear before an internal committee to defend himself before the bank declares him a wilful defaulter.

"We will soon send a letter to Vijay Mallya and ask him to appear before an internal committee of the bank to defend himself...," UBI Executive Director Deepak Narang told PTI today.

The bank had earlier sent a notice to Mallya in this regard and was given 15 days time to give reply. "Mallya replied that he was willing to come and a date will be given this month," he said.

Mallya, Narang said, would be asked to come to the bank's head office here by this month. UBI was the first among other banks in the country to take such a stern step against the liquor baron, he added. UBI's exposure to Kingfisher Airlines was around Rs 350 crore, he said.

He said that a lender declared a person a wilful defaulter when it was satisfied that the borrower did not pay despite having the ability and funds diversion. "We have thoroughly scrutinised all the documents and we are completely satisfied," he said. Narang said that since the bank did not have a chairman at present, the matter would be preferably taken to the board for approval and declare him as a wilful defaulter.

The country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) was also exploring ways to declare Mallya a wilful defaulter and was currently making forensic audit of the documents. Once declared a defaulter, Mallya would have to step down from board level positions of companies and would be debarred from getting future bank finance.