Take my money and use it to fight coronavirus, says Vijay Mallya
- 2020-04-14 22:20
- By business-standard.com
Mallya claimed to this correspondent that out of the sum due, Rs 3,000 crore had already been recovered by the claimants. He praised the lockdown in India, but had previously tweeted: “I have made repeated offers to pay 100 per cent of the amount borrowed by Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) to banks. Liquor baron Mallya’s KFA failed, leaving him, according to creditors, personally liable to repay debts to the tune of Rs 9,000 crore. Therefore, we filed a supplementary interim application before the Karnataka High Court (HC), adding promoters’ assets, which together was more than sufficient to pay off debts.” He then in his “personal capacity” reiterated to the Supreme Court (SC) that he, his family, and UBHL had the assets to liquidate the liability and asked for a speedy disposal of the matter by the Karnataka HC. The apex court, in fact, directed the Karnataka HC to adjudicate on the application within three months, which expired on April 11. Of course, in the past few months, the world has been overtaken by the Covid-19 pandemic, including a nationwide lockdown in India and consequently the Indian judiciary was perforce restricted to limited hearings. The High Court in London on April 9, in fact, cited the court proceedings in India, among other reasons, for delivering the judgment it did in Mallya’s favour and against 13 Indian banks which had petitioned to declare him bankrupt and capture his assets outside India. It is noticeable than from being primarily available at Indian pubs and restaurants, it has graduated to the mainstream, including major supermarkets selling the beverage. Kingfisher has also become the beer partner of the English Premier League football club, Southampton.