In a big move, a UK court on Tuesday has ordered businessman Vijay Mallya, along with his entire family to be evicted from his London home after UBS bank wins the right to repossess and sell the businessman’s luxury home in London.
The businessman Mallya and his family, 34-year-old son Sidhartha and his 95-year-old mother Lalitha stay there. Reportedly Swiss bank UBS will take possession of Mallya’s house. This is the 65-year-old embattled businessman’s prime property Cornwall Terrace apartment, which overlooks Regent’s Park in London.
Vijay Mallya is supposed to refund a 20.4-million pounds which is about Rs 185.4 crore loan to UBS. More importantly, the judge rejected permission to appeal against his order or to grant a temporary stay of enforcement. The verdict signifies UBS can go with the possession process to realize its debt.
In 2019, a Mumbai court declared Vijay Mallya a fugitive economic offender (FEO), and he became the first businessmen to be declared an FEO under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act. Mallya had left India in March 2016, and has a debt of around Rs 9,000 crore to a consortium of 13 public sector banks.
Last month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that lenders have recovered Rs 13,109.17 crore from asset sale of fugitives like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. The latest recovery was of Rs 792 crore from the sale of assets belonging to former Kingfisher Airline boss and others on July 16, 2021.
