As the banks move the court to stop liquor baron Vijay Mallya from leaving India, Accountant General (AG) of India confirmed the millionaire-defaulter’s prescient exit from the country before the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday. He left the country on March 2.
Mallya’s massive debt arrears, amounting to Rs 9,000 crore, prompted a consortium of 13 banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) to move the SC to stop him from exiting the country. The event transpired shortly after he resigned as the chairman of the distillery United Spirits—a unit of Diageo in the UK.
It is speculated that the former liquor-baron millionaire would have moved to London. Earlier, he had voiced his intentions to settle in Europe. Mallya’s farsighted exit would land the law enforcement agencies in trouble.
However, the court on Tuesday has instructed to issue a legal notice to Mallya even if he is abroad. Mallya is bound to respond to the notice within a fortnight.
On Monday, the Debt Recovery Tribunal had blocked a settlement amount of Rs 515 crore between Diageo and Mallya. Details of the deal reveal that Mallya was to receive Rs 275 crores immediately and the rest in five years as the part of his resignation from the firm.
