SC dismisses Vijay Mallya’s plea against bid to declare him fugitive economic offender

SC dismissed the petition for non-prosecution after the counsel representing Mallya submitted that he was not getting any instructions from the petitioner in the matter

The Supreme Court Friday dismissed a plea by beleaguered industrialist Vijay Mallya against the proceedings in a Mumbai court to declare him a fugitive economic offender and confiscate his properties.

The top court dismissed his petition for non-prosecution after the counsel representing Mallya submitted that he was not getting any instructions from the petitioner in the matter.

“The counsel for petitioner states that the petitioner is not giving any instructions to the advocate for the petitioner. In view of this statement, the petition is dismissed for non-prosecution,” a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Rajesh Bindal said.

The top court, which had on December 7, 2018 issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Mallya's plea, had refused to stay the proceedings on the probe agency's plea before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court at Mumbai seeking the ‘fugitive' tag for him under the Fugitive Economic Offenders' Act, 2018.

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On January 5, 2019, the Mumbai special court had declared Mallya a ‘fugitive' under the Act.

Under the provisions of the Act, once a person is declared a fugitive economic offender, the prosecuting agency has the powers to confiscate his property.

Mallya, who fled to the United Kingdom in March 2016, is wanted in India over default of Rs 9,000 crore that was loaned to Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) by several banks.

In a separate case, on July 11, 2022, the top court had sentenced Mallya to four months in jail for contempt of court, and directed the Centre to secure the presence of the fugitive businessman who has been in the UK since 2016 to undergo the imprisonment.