New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed embattled businessman Vijay Mallya's plea challenging the proceedings in a Mumbai court declaring him a fugitive economic offender and confiscating his assets. The lawyer representing Mallya informed the top court that he was not getting any instructions from his client in the matter, after which the top court dismissed the plea for not prosecuting.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed embattled businessman Vijay Mallya’s plea challenging the proceedings in a Mumbai court declaring him a fugitive economic offender and confiscating his assets. The lawyer representing Mallya informed the top court that he was not getting any instructions from his client in the matter, after which the top court dismissed the plea for not prosecuting.
A bench of Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Rajesh Bindal said, “The counsel for the petitioner says that the petitioner is not giving any direction to them. In view of this statement, the plea for non-prosecution is dismissed.” The apex court filed a petition of the Enforcement Directorate before the Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai to declare Mallya a fugitive under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act. The hearing was refused. Earlier, the apex court had on December 7, 2018, issued a notice to the ED on Mallya’s petition.
A special court in Mumbai declared Mallya a fugitive under the Act on January 5, 2019. Under the provisions of the Act, once a person is declared a fugitive economic offender, the prosecuting agency has powers to seize his property. Mallya fled to Britain in March 2016 and is wanted in India in a Rs 9,000 crore fraud case.
Several banks had given this amount as a loan to Kingfisher Airlines (KFA). The apex court, in a separate case, on July 11, 2022, sentenced Mallya to four months in jail for contempt of court and directed the Center to ensure the presence of the fugitive businessman, so that the fugitive businessman could serve the sentence.
