The Supreme Court on Friday considered the Centre’s submission that proceedings to extradite businessman, Vijay Mallya, is going on in London and said the contempt case against him would proceed only when he is produced before it.
A bench comprising Justices A K Goel and U U Lalit took note of the fresh status report, referred by Attorney General, K K Venugopal, that efforts to bring Mallya back were on.
The apex court was to determine the quantum of the sentence against Mallya today. The tycoon has already been convicted, but the court said that proceedings can’t move further unless he is produced before it.
Mallya had earlier failed to make a personal appearance before the apex court despite being directed to do so.
On May 9 , the apex court had held that Mallya, who is currently in the United Kingdom, guilty of contempt on a plea by the consortium of lender banks, led by the State Bank of India, for his failure to furnish details of all his Indian as well as offshore assets.
It had directed Mallya to appear before it on Friday to argue on the quantum of punishment.
The offence of contempt of court entails a maximum imprisonment of up to six months or a fine of upto Rs 2,000 or both.
India had recently asked Britain to ensure early extradition of Mallya, who is an accused in a bank loan default case of over Rs 9,000 crore involving his defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
The court’s order had come in response to a plea by the consortium of banks, led by the SBI, which had said that the businessman had allegedly transferred USD 40 million received from British firm Diageo to his children in “flagrant violation” of various judicial orders.
