In a major setback to Vijay Mallya, the UK high court in London Thursday rejected many of his legal team’s arguments in a case filed by Swiss banking giant UBS to take possession of the liquor baron’s London mansion over non-repayment of a mortgage loan, news agency ANI reported.
The court has also asked Mallya to pay 88,000 pounds to the bank in a preliminary hearing yesterday. The trial will be held in May 2019.
The bank had sought repossession of the property at Cornwall Terrace, overlooking Regent’s Park in central London, for the unpaid 20.4 million pounds mortgage loan. The property was referred to in the court as a “high-class home for Dr Vijay Mallya and his family members and United Breweries Group corporate guests”.
Mallya, who also founded the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, fled India in March 2016 even as a debt court in Bengaluru was set to act against him for defaulting on loans issued by several banks led by the state-owned State Bank of India. The 62-year-old is fighting an effort to get him extradited to India on charges of fraud and money laundering.
He remains on bail on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard last year on fraud and money laundering charges brought by the Indian government. A ruling in his extradition case is expected at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London next month.