Vijay Mallya is broke and living off his partner, children: report

Fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya is broke, bankrupt and living off his partner, personal assistant, a business acquaintance and his children, according to submissions made by banks in the London High Court.

The court learnt that Mallya's "partner/wife Pinky Lalwani" pockets about Rs 1.35 crore (150,000 Pounds) per annum and that he is only left with Rs 2,956 crore (328 million Pounds) in personal assets, which he has put forth in his settlement offer to the Karnataka High Court

These details on were part of Mallya's response to a bankruptcy petition presented by 13 Indian banks on September 11, 2018, which will be heard in December 2019. Mallya's children and his partner/wife "are supporting him", as per the banks' submissions to the court, the Times of India reported.

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The businessman has been helped by his personal assistant, Ms Mahal, as well as a business acquaintance, Mr Bedi, who have given him Rs 75.7 lakh (84,000 Pounds) and Rs 1.15 crore (128,000 Pounds), "for living expenses and money owed to Inland Revenue", Nigel Tozzi QC, who is representing the 13 Indian banks, said in these submissions. Mallya owes around Rs 11,000 crore to these banks, according to the submissions made to the court.

Mallya also owes about Rs 2.40 crore (267,000 Pounds) to HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) which is a non-ministerial department of the UK Government and an undisclosed amount to his previous lawyers, Macfarlanes, as well, according to the written arguments by Tozzi. The fugitive businessman also failed to pay Rs 1.57 crore (175,000 Pounds) of Rs 3.37 crore (375,000 Pounds) in legal costs to the Indian banks.

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Meanwhile, Mallya's lawyer, John Brisby QC, also informed the court that the businessman was willing to cut corners by dropping his weekly living allowance as allowed by the court from Rs 16.21 lakh (16,000 Pounds) a week to Rs 26.57 lakh (29,500 Pounds) a month, since the monthly payments of Rs 14.4 lakh (16,000 Pounds) he previously had to make on hire purchase agreements "were no longer required.", the report said.

The court also learnt that Mallya owes Rs 30.6 crore (3.4 million Pounds) to South African bank Investec which has joined the Indian banks in their bankruptcy petition.

"He cannot on any view satisfy judgment of 1.1 billion Pounds. He is insolvent," Brisby informed the court.

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Wednesday's hearing was about an application moved by the banks to access funds in Mallya's current account with ICICI Bank UK Plc as a part of ongoing efforts to enforce the Bengaluru DRT judgment against the fugitive businessman in the UK.

The banks had on January 14, 2019 secured an interim third party debt order attaching the amount of Rs 2.33 crore (259,000 Pounds), which was there in Mallya's account at that time. He however, has opposed the order being made final and has asked the court to discharge the order proceedings.

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