Banks seek contempt action in Supreme Court against Vijay Mallya

NEW DELHI: Aconsortium of state-owned banks led by State Bank of India urged the Supreme Court on Thursday to initiate contempt proceedings against Vijay Mallya for not faithfully disclosing his assets to the court. The court will hear the matter on July 18.

The top court had in April asked Mallya to disclose all his income and assets at the insistence of the banks, which claimed that the businessman owed them more than Rs 9,000 crore. On Thursday, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi sought an urgent hearing of the contempt petition, insisting that Mallya had defied the court order asking him to cooperate with the banks in recovering their arrears.

“The details that he submitted in a sealed cover before the (SC) bench in April is vague. It’s not a faithful disclosure,” Rohatgi said. “It does not include Rs 2,500 crore he received from Diageo. The details are incomplete. For instance, he mentions a yatch. But he does not disclose where it is,” the AG said.

This is yet another attempt by the banks to secure Mallya’s personal presence in court. An earlier attempt had failed after Mallya’s lawyer insisted that it was not necessary for negotiations and the court had settled for his appearance through legal counsel for the time being.

The SC had asked Mallya to disclose details of all the assets, both domestic and foreign, held by him and his immediate family, including wife and children, after the banks rejected his initial offer for a Rs 4,000 crore settlement. The banks insisted that he come clean on his assets before the issue could be thrashed out through negotiations.

Mallya had agreed to reveal the details only to the court. The court later overruled his objections and directed that the information be shared with banks.