SBI, other banks move SC to stop Vijay Mallya from leaving India

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: A consortium of PSU banks on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking direction that industrialist Vijay Mallya is not allowed to leave India.

SC has agreed to hear plea of PSU banks, including SBI, tomorrow.

The creditors, led by the State Bank of India, have stepped up efforts to recover the debt - USD 1 billion as of end-January 2014 - after Mallya last month resigned as chairman of spirits maker United Spirits, a unit of Diageo Plc.

Mallya also said he would spend more time in England to be closer to his children.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for PSU banks, mentioned the matter for urgent hearing.

Rohatgi said that the plea has been moved by 17 banks, including State Bank of India, against Mallya whose various firms have taken loan from them.

He also said that the dues run into thousands of crores.

The Debt Recovery Tribunal yesterday barred him from accessing USD 75 million (Rs 515 crore) exit payment from Diageo till the loan default case with SBI is settled while the ED registered a money laundering case against him in another default case.

The money laundering case launched by the Enforcement Directorate(ED) in Mumbai against Mallya and others was in connection with the alleged default of over Rs 900 crore loan from IDBI bank based on an FIR registered last year by CBI in the same case, official sources said, adding Mallya and others will soon be questioned.