Convicted 4 yrs ago, Mallya told by SC to appear for sentencing
Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com
New Delhi:01.12.2021
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked fugitive businessman Vijay Mallay, sheltered in the UK despite proceedings for his extradition to India attaining finality, to appear before it on January 18 for quantification of sentence, more than four years after he was convicted for contempt of court for transferring abroad $40 million from United Spirits despite the SC barring it.
On May 9, 2017, the SC had convicted Mallya guilty of contempt of court and directed him to appear personally before it on July 10, 2017 for determination of quantum of punishment. But Mallya had already fled the country to the UK by then and never bothered to appear before the court. while contesting in various forums the Indian government’s attempts to extradite him. After he lost in resisting his extradition, he appears to have entered into “secret” proceedings with the UK government.
The MEA, through solicitor general Tushar Mehta, told a bench of Justices UU Lalit, SR Bhat and Bela M Trivedi that the extradition proceedings have attained finality but the UK government hasn’t divulged any detail of the “secret” proceedings pending qua Mallya, which is delaying his extradition.
The Justice Lalit-led bench said he was found guilty of contempt of court on May 9, 2017 and has never bothered to appear before the court. Thereafter, even though the court had directed the Centre to secure his presence before the SC, it could not be done because of pending proceedings in the UK. Adjournments and intervention of pandemic delayed hearing on quantification of Mallya’s sentence, the bench said.
“If the person wants to appear before us on January18, he can do so. Otherwise, he can be brought before court through extradition. If these options don’t happen, he can appear through a lawyer,” the bench said and appointed advocate Jaideep Gupta as amicus curiae to assist court in the matter.
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