Supreme Court sentences Vijay Mallya to 4 months in prison for contempt

12 Jul 2022 , 10:05 AM

The Supreme Court on 11-07-2022 handed down a four-month prison term and an Rs.2,000 fine to Vijay Mallya for a 2017 contempt of court case.

In 2017, he was found guilty of contempt for giving his children $40 million against court restrictions. The court ordered that the fine be paid to the Supreme Court legal services authority within four weeks or else an additional two-month term will be added.

Judges stated, “We must administer sufficient punishment in order to protect the grandeur of justice”.

The top court in the nation also ruled that Vijay Mallya’s 40 million dollar transfer to his children was “void and inoperable,” and it commanded the beneficiaries to repay the money, together with 8% interest, to the recovery officer within four weeks. The assets owned by Vijay Mallya might be seized if the money is not reimbursed.

The court ruling stated, “The government of India and other agencies should help in the process. If this is not deposited, the recovery officer might take necessary proceedings for recovery of the abovementioned sum.”

The decision was made by a bench of Justices UU Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat, and PS Narasimha. A group of banks, led by the State Bank of India (SBI), filed a petition asking for Vijay Mallya to be held in contempt of court and ordered to deposit $40 million that he had received from the offshore company Diageo.

In “flagrant disobedience” of the Karnataka High Court’s orders, banks claimed that Vijay Mallya hid the truth and directed the money to his children Siddharth Mallya, Leanna Mallya, and Tanya Mallya.

In a bank loan default action involving his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines and over 9,000 crores in debt, Vijay Mallya is one of the defendants.

On March 10, the Supreme Court announced that it had reserved judgment on the matter. Vijay Mallya was found guilty on two counts: failing to disclose assets and disobeying the Karnataka High Court’s express directions of restriction. He arrived in the United Kingdom in March 2016.

Vijay Mallya, who fled to the United Kingdom, was not present for the hearing. Vijay Mallya’s extradition from the UK has been approved, although the Centre had previously notified the court that he could not be transferred to India because of “secret” processes that are ongoing there that it is not aware of.

The hearing had been postponed a few times to allow Vijay Mallya a chance to show up, but the court eventually chose to continue without him because of his failure to do so.