Mumbai, Feb 18 (PTI) Fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya, who is facing multiple cases of fraud and money laundering, told the Bombay High Court on Wednesday that he could not say when he would return to India as he is barred by law from leaving the UK.
In an affidavit submitted to the high court through his counsel Amit Desai Mallya, he said that he did not have an active passport after its cancellation and therefore could not give a specific date of return to India.
The statement came after Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad made it clear last week that they would not hear Mallya’s plea against the fugitive economic offender order until he returns to India.
The court then asked the former liquor baron to clarify whether he intends to return to India.
Mallya, who has been based in the UK since 2016, filed two petitions in the HC – one challenging the order declaring him a fugitive economic offender and the other challenging the constitutional validity of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.
The 70-year-old liquor baron is accused of defaulting on several loans amounting to several thousand million crowns and faces charges of money laundering.
In his statement to the HC, the businessman said he could not give a specific date for his return because he does not have his Indian passport, which was canceled by the government in 2016, and also because there are court orders in England and Wales barring him from leaving the country.
“Mallya is not permitted to leave or attempt to leave England and Wales, nor to apply for an international travel document or to hold any international travel document. In any event, the petitioner is unable to state precisely when he will return to India,” Desai read out a statement in court.
The senior lawyer reiterated that Mallya’s presence in the country was not necessary for the court to hear his objections to the refugee stamp and the provisions of the law.
“If (Mallya) were to appear in India, all these proceedings would become irrelevant because the law says that once the offender appears before the appropriate court, all such orders will be stayed,” Desai told the court.
The bench directed the Union government to file its reply to Mallya’s statement and posted the matter for further hearing next month.
Mallya was declared a fugitive economic offender in January 2019 by a special court hearing cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The businessman left India in March 2016.