Banks can start process to recover Rs9,000 cr from Mallya: tribunal

The Debt Recovery Tribunal in Bengaluru has allowed banks to start proceedings for recovery of nearly Rs9,000 crore from liquor baron Vijay Mallya and some of his companies in connection with loans to the failed Kingfisher Airlines.

A consortium of 17 banks, led by State Bank of India, had filed applications with the tribunal. The tribunal has allowed the banks to recover the amount from Mallya, Kingfisher Airlines, United Breweries Holdings Limited (UBHL) and Kingfisher Finvest.

The tribunal directed the recovery of the original amount of Rs6,203 crore plus interest at the rate of 11.5 per cent from the date of filing of the application in 2013.

The order brings the curtains down on the nearly three-year legal battle in the tribunal by the consortium to recover the money owed by the defunct airline.

The SBI has filed three other applications also, including one seeking Mallya's arrest and impounding his passport, for "defaulting" on loans.

Mallya, who left the country on 2 March last year and is now in the UK, has been declared a Proclaimed Offender by a special court in Mumbai on a plea by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with its money laundering probe against him which is a part of the bank loan default case.