Where is the $40 million received from Diageo? SC asks Mallya

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up elusive liquor baron Vijay Mallya for not disclosing what he has done with $40 million he received from British liquor major Diageo for stepping down as chairman and of United Spirits Limited.
Taking exception to Mallya giving “vague” details of his domestic and overseas properties and remaining silent on the money received from Diageo despite its order, a bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and RF Nariman expressed its unhappiness and directed him to disclose all informations within a month.
The bench was hearing a petition filed a consortium of 17 banks led by SBI seeking contempt proceedings against Mallya for not complying with apex court’s order for making honest disclosure of his assets. The banks are pursuing case against the king of good times for over Rs 9,000 crore loan default payments.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the consortium, told the bench that $40 million was paid to Mallya on February 25 but he did not mentioned the amount in the disclosure made before the court. He said the businessman has taken the court and all creditors for a ride by not disclosing all his assets. He alleged that amount was deposited in a Swiss bank.
“The proceeding would have taken a different turn if he had disclosed about $40 million and we would have taken steps to get the money. He did not disclose the information despite court’s direction. Punishment must be awarded to him and he should be directed to deposit the amount with banks,” Rohatgi said.
Agreeing with his plea, the bench repeatedly asked Mallya’s counsel and senior advocate C S Vaidyanathan to tell what the businessman did with the money. “Why you did not tell us what happened to $40 million? We want to know where the money has gone. We want an upfront explanation from you,” the bench said.
Vaidyanathan informed the bench that Mallya had invested in overseas properties and entire $40 million was no longer in his bank account. He said that there was no specific direction from court to reveal information on the amount and the affidavit filed by him mentioned only the remaining amount.
The bench, however, was not satisfied with his explanation and said that that Mallya had not come with “clean hands” before the court and information furnished by him was completely “vague”. It directed him to disclose all his domestic and overseas assets particularly what he did with $40 million within a month.
Diageo has entered into an agreement with Mallya and he was paid $40 million in February as part of the $75 million deal. Mallya had resigned from his position as Chairman and non-executive director of United Spirits Limited (USL) and from the boards of other USL group companies as per the agreement.