Vijay Mallya approaches Karnataka HC, claims banks have recovered his debt ‘multiple times over’

Fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya has approached the Karnataka High Court against proceedings to recover the debt of his now-defunct airline Kingfisher Airlines, Bar and Bench reported.

He claimed that while Kingfisher Airlines had debts to the tune of Rs 6,200 crore, banks have recovered the “principal debt amount multiple times over”.

The High Court on Wednesday sent notices to ten banks in response to the petition.

Mallya claimed that a recovery officer had acknowledged that an amount of Rs 10,200 crore had been paid by Kingfisher Airlines, Live Law reported. He also noted that the finance ministry stated in the Lok Sabha in December that public sector banks had recovered over 14,000 crore by selling his assets.

Mallya has demanded that banks issue statements showing the amounts they have received so far and details about the original owners of the assets used to recover those amounts, based on the updated recovery certificate issued by the Debt Recovery Tribunal on April 10, 2017.

In 2016, Mallya was booked under charges of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to criminal conspiracy (Section 120B) and cheating (Section 420). He was also charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The businessman had fled the country in March 2016 and has been living in the United Kingdom since. The Indian government is seeking to extradite him so that he…

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