Vijay Mallya Can't Be Sentenced In His Absence, Says Supreme Court

The Supreme Court today indefinitely deferred the sentencing of business tycoon Vijay Mallya, convicted in the contempt case filed by consortium of banks headed by the SBI and said it could be done only after the government extradites him and produces before the judges.

When a bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice U U Lalit said it is the duty of the government to produce the convict before the court, Attorney General K K Venugopal said that it has informed the Indian High Commission in London about the convinction and earnest attempts are on bring him back.

The AG also said the trial in the extradition proceedings against Mallya will start on December 4 and the government hoped that it would get him back to India after December.

The Supreme Court had on May 10 held UB Group chairman guilty of contempt of court, and asked him to appear before the court on 10 July to decide on his prison sentence. The case had then been deferred to today.

The ruling came on a plea by a consortium of creditors led by State Bank of India (SBI) which argued that Mallya had disobeyed court orders by making “vague and unclear disclosure of his assets” by transferring a $40 million payment from Diageo Plc. to his children and by ignoring summonses to appear in court.

“We give him an opportunity to be present in court personally while deciding on quantum of punishment,” justices A.K. Goel and U.U. Lalit said in the ruling.