Fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya on Wednesday lost an appeal against a London high court bankruptcy order in case pertaining to more than ₹11,101 crore debt to lenders, including the State Bank of India (SBI).
Vijay Mallya has been living in Britain since fleeing India in 2016. He has been embroiled in a long legal battle with lenders, as well as the Indian authorities, following the 2012 collapse of his defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
In 2017, a group of banks obtained a judgment in India worth over ₹11,101 crore against Mallya, who had guaranteed Kingfisher Airlines’ debt. Based on that order, the London high court gave a bankruptcy ruling against him in 2021, according to Reuters.
Mallya went on to file an appeal against the bankruptcy order at a hearing in February this year, when his lawyers argued the banks had already recovered assets which had effectively settled the debt. But the court of judge Anthony Mann rejected the appeal on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
“The bottom line is that the bankruptcy order stands,” judge Mann said in a written order, Reuters reported.
Mallya’s lawyers said in a statement that he would continue to seek to overturn the bankruptcy order.
Where does Vijay Mallya’s extradition matter stand?
Vijay Mallya is also fighting a separate matter of his extradition to India to face charges of fraud over the collapse of his Kingfisher Airlines.
He was also a co-owner of the Formula One motor racing team Force India, which he had to sell after the airline’s collapse.
Mallya lost an appeal against being extradited to India most recently back in 2020. The matter of his extradition was also mentioned in the bankruptcy ruling of judge Anthony Mann, in which the judge said that the extradition order “has still not been enforced”.
“Apparently, Dr Mallya is still resisting extradition on other bases which have yet to be resolved,” judge Mann’s order said on the matter.
