UK Court Directs Vijay Mallya to Pay £200,000 to Indian Banks

A UK High Court has ordered liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya to cough up a minimum amount of £200,000 towards costs that have been incurred by 13 Indian banks in their legal bid to recover their alleged dues, PTI reported.

The court has also ordered Mallya to pay the expenses towards registration of the worldwide freezing order as well as of the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) of Karnataka’s judgment in Britain. “The court ordered that Mallya pay the banks’ costs. The standard order is that the court will assess those costs unless the parties can otherwise agree a figure for what should be paid,” a legal expert familiar with the case was quoted as saying by the news agency.

The calculation of costs by the court is a separate process. It is concluded with another court hearing in front of a specialist costs judge in the United Kingdom, the report added. Meanwhile, Mallya has to pay £200,000 towards legal costs.

Mallya had on May 8 lost a lawsuit filed in the United Kingdom by Indian banks looking to recover over £1.15 billion ($1.55 billion) from him. The lenders, including the State Bank of India and IDBI Bank Ltd., can enforce an Indian court ruling, linked to accusations that Mallya deliberately defaulted on around $1.4 billion in debt for his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines Ltd., Judge Andrew Henshaw had said in London.

The litigation had listed 13 banks, including the State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Corporation Bank, Federal Bank Ltd., IDBI Bank Ltd., Indian Overseas Bank, as applicants.

Judge Henshaw did not permit appealing for the ruling, leaving Mallya’s lawyers with the only option of petitioning the Court of Appeal directly.

The legal expenses owed to the banks came in a succeeding court order by the same judge. “The first defendant’s (Mallya) application for permission to appeal is refused. Any further application for permission to appeal should be made to the Court of Appeal to be dealt with by a judge of that court,” the judgment stated, as per the agency.

Mallya is scheduled to be back at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London in July to appear in one of the final hearings in his extradition case. A hearing for closing arguments presented by his defense team is scheduled to take place on July 31. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will represent Indian authorities.