NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Friday dismissed a plea by industrialist Vijay Mallya against the proceedings launched against him in a Mumbai court to declare him a fugitive economic offender and confiscate his properties.
The court rejected his petition for non-prosecution.
A counsel, appearing for Mallya, submitted that he was not getting any instructions from the petitioner in the matter.
“The counsel for petitioner states that the petitioner is not giving any instructions to the advocate for the petitioner. In view of this statement, the petition is dismissed for non-prosecution,” a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Rajesh Bindal said.
The court had on December 7, 2018 issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Mallya's plea.
It had then refused to stay the proceedings on the probe agency's plea before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court at Mumbai seeking the ‘fugitive' tag for him under the Fugitive Economic Offenders' Act, 2018.
However, on January 5, 2019, the Mumbai special court had declared Mallya a ‘fugitive' under the Act.
Under the provisions of the Act, once a person is declared a fugitive economic offender, the prosecuting agency has the powers to confiscate his property.
Mallya had fled to the United Kingdom in March 2016.
He is in default of Rs 9,000 crore loan sanctioned to Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) by several banks.
Mallya had approached the top court in 2018 challenging the Bombay High Court order which dismissed his plea seeking a stay on the proceedings before a special PMLA court in Mumbai on the ED's plea to declare him a fugitive economic offender under the new law.
In an another case, on July 11, 2022, the top court had sentenced Mallya to four months in jail for contempt of court, and directed the Centre to secure the presence of the fugitive businessman who has been in the UK since 2016 to undergo the imprisonment.
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