Supreme Court awarded 4-month jail sentence and imposed Rs 2000 fine on fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya who was found guilty of contempt of court in 2017 for withholding information from the court.
Supreme Court asks Mallya to deposit back USD 40 million with interest within four weeks.
“To uphold the majesty of justice, we must impose adequate punishment,” judges said.
The country’s top court also said that the transaction of 40 million dollars by Vijay Mallya to his children is “void and inoperable”, ordering the recipients to return the amount with 8% interest to the recovery officer within four weeks. If the amount is not returned, Vijay Mallya’s properties can be attached.
“If this is not deposited, the recovery officer can take appropriate actions for recovery of the said amount and the government of India and all agencies should assist in that process,” the court order said.
A bench of Justices UU Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat and PS Narasimha passed the order.
In 2017, Supreme Court had held Mallya guilty of contempt of court for withholding information from the court about transferring USD 40 million to his children in violation of the court’s order.
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Mallya has been living in the United Kingdom since March 2016. He is on bail on an extradition warrant executed by the Scotland Yard on April 18, 2017.
During the hearing earlier, Mallya’s counsel had on March 10 told the apex court that he was handicapped in the absence of any instruction from his client, who is in the United Kingdom, and would not be able to argue on the quantum of sentence to be awarded in the contempt case.
Observing that it had waited “sufficiently long”, the apex court on February 10 had fixed the contempt case against Mallya for hearing and had given him the last opportunity to appear before it either personally or through his lawyer.
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