Vijay Mallya to be evicted from London home; Swiss bank UBS to take possession

A court in the United Kingdom has allowed Swiss bank UBS to take possession of a multi-million-pound luxury home in London belonging to beleaguered liquor baron Vijay Mallya, over unpaid dues.

The court refused to grant Mallya a stay of enforcement in a long-running dispute with the Swiss bank.

Delivering his judgement virtually for the Chancery Division of the High Court, Deputy Master Matthew Marsh also declined permission to appeal against his order or to grant a temporary stay of enforcement.


This means UBS can take possession of the luxury townhouse, 18/19 Cornwall Terrace, which overlooks Regent's Park in London.

Mallya and his family members stand a chance of being evicted from their home.

Mallya was not immediately available for comment.

The court ruled that there were no grounds to grant further time for the Mallya family to repay a 20.4-million loan to UBS, which is the claimant in the case.

"The claimant's position was reasonable one further time is not likely to make any material difference," Deputy Master Marsh ruled, new wire PTI said, quoting the ruling.

The case relates to a mortgage taken by the British Virgin Island-registered company, Rose Capital Ventures, owned by Mallya family trust - Sileta Trust.

The company owns Mallya's London home.

In 2012, it mortgaged the house to UBS as security for a five-year loan of 20.4 million.

The tenure ended in 2017 and the outstanding balance has not been repaid.

In October last year, the bank obtained permission to issue a writ of permission against Mallya and his family.

Mallya is the first to be declared a fugitive economic offender under the provisions of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, which came into effect in August 2018. He is wanted in India in an alleged ₹9,000 crore money laundering case related to loans made to his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

Mallya is currently on bail, while a confidential hearing related to his application seeking asylum in the country is being heard.