Fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya has approached the Karnataka High Court, claiming that banks have already recovered the “principal debt amount multiple times over” in the Kingfisher Airlines loan default case. In his petition, Mallya has sought directions for the banks to furnish a comprehensive account statement detailing the total recovered amount. His plea also requests an interim stay on any further recovery actions, arguing that the banks have not only settled the loan but have continued to seize assets beyond what is legally justified.
Justice R. Devdas has issued notices to ten banks, including the State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB), along with a loan recovery officer and an asset reconstruction company involved in the case. Mallya’s legal representative emphasized that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had informed the Lok Sabha about the loan recovery process, stating that Rs 10,200 crore had already been recovered. Despite this, recovery actions against Mallya and his companies remain ongoing. His advocate pointed out that the total debt owed was Rs 6,203 crore as per the Debt Recovery Tribunal's order, and yet banks have managed to recover far more than this amount, raising concerns over transparency in the process.
Mallya, who fled to the United Kingdom in 2016 to evade arrest, has repeatedly claimed that he is being unfairly targeted. In 2023, he posted on X (formerly Twitter) that banks had recovered more than twice the original debt. He also referenced Sitharaman’s statement in the Lok Sabha, which confirmed that assets worth Rs 14,131.6 crore linked to him had been restored to the banks. The petition further argues that if the financial institutions have already secured more than what was owed, then the ongoing confiscation of assets is unwarranted and should be stopped immediately.
The case against Mallya stems from his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, which defaulted on massive loans taken from Indian banks. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) named Mallya the prime accused in the IDBI Bank-Kingfisher Airlines loan fraud case. Indian authorities have been pursuing his extradition from the UK, and he has been declared a fugitive economic offender under Indian law. The Supreme Court of India has also held him in contempt for failing to disclose all his assets as ordered by the court.
Despite multiple court rulings against him in India and legal setbacks in the UK, Mallya continues to contest the seizure of his properties, arguing that the government and banks are unjustly prolonging the matter for political reasons. While the legal battle over his extradition and financial liabilities continues, Mallya’s latest petition in the Karnataka High Court adds another layer to the complex and high-profile case that has spanned nearly a decade. The court will now review his claims and determine whether his plea for an interim stay on further recoveries has merit.
