Vijay Mallya offers to pay Rs 4000 crore; SC asks banks to reply in a week
The liquor baron made the proposal in a sealed envelope and the consortium of banks has a week's time to respond to it.
New Delhi: Liquor baron Vijay Mallya who is facing charges of money laundering, has offered to repay Rs 4000 crore to banks by September this year, the proposal was made by him in a sealed cover which was submitted in the Supreme Court by his lawyers.
Along with Mallya and Kingfisher, the proposal was also submitted by United Breweries (Holdings) Ltd and Kingfisher Finvest (India) Ltd. The top court in its turn gave the consortium of banks a week’s time to respond to this proposal and has posted the matter for further hearing on April 7.
Mallya had left India on March 2 for London, days before the Supreme Court heard a plea of state-owned banks seeking recovery of money from his group firms.
Read: Pay dues honourably or face coercive action: Finance Minister to Mallya
Mallya and Kingfisher Airlines owed Rs 7,800 crore to a consortium of 17 lenders led by State Bank, which had an exposure of over Rs 1,600 crore to the now defunct airline. Other banks that have exposure to the airline include Punjab National Bank and IDBI Bank (Rs 800 crore each), Bank of India (Rs 650 crore), Bank of Baroda (Rs 550 crore), Central Bank of India (Rs 410 crore).
Read: Have received dues settlement offer from Kingfisher: SBI
UCO Bank has to recover Rs 320 crore, Corporation Bank (Rs 310 crore), State Bank of Mysore, (Rs 150 crore), Indian Overseas Bank (Rs 140 crore), Federal Bank (Rs 90 crore), Punjab & Sind Bank (Rs 60 crore) and Axis Bank (Rs 50 crore).
Read: Vijay Mallya’s private jet put on auction
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday had issued fresh summons, asking Mallya to appear before it on April 2 in the money laundering case against him.
ED had earlier issued summons to Mallya for "personal appearance" on March 18 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
But the flamboyant businessman asked for a date in April, making it clear that he would not be able to appear before that.
Mallya, who is currently in the United Kingdom and is being sought out in India over charges of money laundering, claimed that the banks gave him loans after evaluating all aspects and asserted that he is not trying to evade the law enforcement agencies but is on a personal visit.