Vijay Mallya 'concealed' assets worth $40 million

In A new revelation in the Vijay Mallya case, the consortium of banks led by State Bank of India told the Supreme Court on Monday that the liquor baron had not fully disclosed his assets, including $40 million he received in February from a British firm, in his reply in March. Appearing for the banks, attorney general Mukul Rohatgi said that a lot of other information had also been concealed, including a cash transaction to the tune of Rs 2,500 crore, which amounted to contempt of court.

The court directed the banks, which have initiated loan recovery proceedings against Mallya, to respond to his plea seeking the recall of the notice of contempt for allegedly not making full disclosure of all the assets owned by him and his family as directed by the top court earlier. A Bench of Justices Kurien Joseph and Rohinton F Nariman gave the banks ten days to file their response and posted the matter for hearing on September 27.

Arguing for Mallya, advocate Mahesh Agarwal said that the liquor baron has contended that the disclosure of the assets was for settlement of outstanding dues with the banks and since no settlement is taking place, he is not obliged to make any disclosure. Consequently, there is no case of contempt of court, Agarwal further argued.

Rohatgi contended that Mallya's plea cannot be entertained as he has neither appeared before the court in pursuance to the contempt notice nor is willing to disclose his assets. "As per the Supreme Court rules, Mallya has to appear before the court after a notice has been served upon him in a contempt petition," Rohatgi said.

On July 25, the apex court had issued a notice to Mallya on a plea of the consortium of banks, which alleged that he had not disclosed his full assets.

The apex court, after noting the submissions by the attorney general, had issued notice to Mallya and asked him to respond. On July 14, Rohatgi claimed that Mallya had provided wrong details of his assets in a sealed cover to the apex court.