Vijay Mallya faces bankruptcy proceedings in UK high court
Live MintLondon: Embattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya’s legal troubles continue to mount as he is set to face bankruptcy proceedings in the UK High Court next year, brought by a consortium of Indian banks in their attempt to recoup unpaid debt worth nearly 1.145 billion pounds. TLT LLP, the UK-based law firm which had won a landmark case for the 13 banks led by State Bank of India earlier this year, confirmed on Monday that their bankruptcy petition against the 62-year-old businessman has been transferred to the insolvency list in London’s High Court of Justice for a hearing in the first half of 2019. In a ruling in May, a UK High Court judge had refused to overturn a worldwide order freezing Mallya’s assets and upheld an Indian court’s ruling that the consortium of 13 Indian banks were entitled to recover funds amounting to nearly 1.145 billion pounds. Chief Magistrate, Judge Emma Arbuthnot, had ruled last week that Mallya does have a case to answer in the Indian courts over substantial “misrepresentations” of his financial dealings, in a boost to India’s efforts to bring back the businessman wanted for alleged bank fraud and money laundering charges amounting to an estimated ₹ 9,000 crores.