Supreme Court orders Mallya to disclose assets

The court ordered Mallya to file an affidavit on oath disclosing all assets in his name and those of his wife and children as on March 31, 2016 in India and abroad by April 21.

Mumbai:

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed controversial businessman Vijay Mallya to declare all his assets within two weeks even as lenders rejected the liquor baron’s offer to pay Rs 4,000 crore by September as part of a settlement.

The court ordered Mallya to file an affidavit on oath disclosing all assets in his name and those of his wife and children as on March 31, 2016 in India and abroad by April 21.

The consortium of 17 banks led by SBI had asked the court to order Mallya who owed them Rs 9,000 crore to pay back the entire amount due. The banks informed the court that they had met on Saturday (April 2) to discuss Mallya’s offer.

The banks told the apex court that for meaningful negotiations to take place, Mallya was required to be present in person. They also said they had also rejected a second offer on Wednesday. However, details of that offer were not immediately available.

When contacted, bankers were reluctant to give any reason for rejecting Mallya’s offer and were not ready to provide any details about their meeting on April 2.

Text messages sent to Arundhati Bhattacharya, chairperson of SBI and Usha Ananthasubramanian, managing director and chief executive officer of Punjab National Bank did not elicit any response.

A senior official of a bank, which is part of the consortium of 17 banks that have exposure to Kingfisher Airlines, said on conditions of anonymity that “banks in the consortium deliberated on the proposal and nobody was willing to take a haircut on the repayment of loans.”

Another banker who is not part of the lenders’ consortium said that “with so much of limelight on the case, no bank will risk to be seen as soft on Mallya as it could raise unsavoury questions from law enforcement authorities later.”

The Supreme Court also asked Mallya to tell the court how much money he could deposit with it to prove that he intended to arrive at a meaningful settlement. The court said that Mallya must file his response by April 21 and gave the lender banks time till April 25 to respond.

“Vijay Mallya has to prove his bona fides by presenting himself for suitable negotiation and present a contingency plan,” the lawyer appearing for the consortium of banks told the court. “For suitable negotiations, he should be present and should declare all his moveable, immoveable, tangible and intangible assets in both in India and abroad,” he said.

Besides SBI, other banks which have moved the Supreme Court are Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, Corporation Bank, Federal Bank, IDBI Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Jammu & Kashmir Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of Mysore, UCO Bank and United Bank of India

The spokesman for Mallya and the UB group Sumanto Bhattacharya declined to comment on the Supreme Court order.

After five straight years of losses and mounting debt, Kingfisher Airlines was grounded in October 2012. While the airline’s employees protested against unpaid wages, lenders unsuccessfully attempted to revive the carrier.

Kingfisher Airlines owed Rs 6,963 crore to banks as of January 31, 2014. Guarantors to the bank loans were United Breweries Holdings and Mallya personally. The loan amount doesn’t include interest accumulated after that day and expenses and costs.

Mallya’s lawyer C S Vaidyanathan had submitted the settlement proposal to the Supreme Court on March 30.