SC to pronounce verdict against Vijay Mallya in contempt case today

The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday will pronounce the sentence against fugitive billionaire Vijay Mallya in a 2017 contempt case, where he was found guilty of violating the orders of the court. 

A bench comprising Justices U U Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat, and P S Narasimha had reserved its order in the case against Mallya, who has been accused in a bank default case of over Rs 9,000 crore, on March 10 this year. The bench had observed that proceedings against Mallya have hit a "dead wall".

Mallya, who is in the United Kingdom since March 2016, was found guilty of contempt of court for transferring $40 million to his children, in a case filed by the State Bank of India.

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Mallya's counsel had on March 10 told the SC that he was handicapped in the absence of any instruction from his client and would not be able to argue on the quantum of sentence to be awarded in the contempt case.

The apex court on February 10, observing that it had waited "sufficiently long", had granted the last opportunity of two weeks for Mallya to personally present himself or through his counsel in the contempt case.

The top court had said it has given multiple opportunities to Mallya to appear either personally or through a lawyer and had even given specific directions in its order dated November 30, 2021.
 

The SC had found Mallya guilty in 2017 on two counts of contempts, first for not disclosing his assets, and second for "flagrant violation" of orders passed by the Karnataka High Court.

A consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India had moved the apex court earlier, saying that the fugitive businessman was not following the court orders on the repayment of loans.

It was alleged that he was not disclosing the assets and moreover, transferring them to his children in violation of the restraint orders.

(With PTI inputs)