Vijay Mallya fights Indian banks' attempt to recover dues in UK
India TodayEmbattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya on Wednesday faced yet another legal battle to prevent a consortium of Indian banks led by State Bank of India getting access to nearly 260,000 pounds in a UK bank account. The 62-year-old is contesting an interim debt order obtained by the Indian banks in January this year, which relates to funds in the former Kingfisher Airlines boss' current account with ICICI Bank in London. "The hearing concerns an interim third-party debt order obtained by the banks in January and relates to funds worth just short of 260,000 pounds in Dr Mallya's current account with ICICI Bank in London," said a spokesperson for TLT LLP, the law firm representing the Indian banks. The case is part of wider efforts by SBI and 12 other Indian banks - Bank of Baroda, Corporation bank, Federal Bank Ltd, IDBI Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Jammu & Kashmir Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of Mysore, UCO Bank, United Bank of India and JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Co Pvt Ltd - to recover some of the funds owed to them as a result of unpaid loans by Mallya's now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. In a ruling in May last year, 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.