Mumbai, February 18 Vijay Mallya, a businessman who has been accused of fraud and money laundering, told the Bombay High Court on Wednesday that he cannot say when he will return to India, as he is legally prohibited from leaving the UK.
In a statement submitted through his lawyer, Amit Desai, to the high court, Mallya said that he does not have an active passport, as it has been revoked, and therefore, he cannot give a definite date of return to India.
The statement was submitted after a bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad made it clear last week that they would not hear Mallya's plea against the order declaring him an economic offender until he returns to India.
The court had then asked the former businessman to clarify whether or not he intended to return to India.
Mallya, who has been based in the United Kingdom since 2016, has filed two petitions in the HC – one challenging an order declaring him an economic offender and the other questioning the constitutional validity of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.
The 70-year-old businessman is accused of defaulting on multiple loan repayments worth several thousand crores and facing money laundering charges.
In his statement to the HC, Mallya said that he cannot give a definite date for his return as he does not have his Indian passport, which was revoked by the government in 2016, and also because there are court orders in England and Wales that prohibit him from leaving the country.
"Mallya is not permitted to leave or attempt to leave England and Wales or apply for or be in possession of any international travel document. In any event, the petitioner is unable to precisely state when he will return to India," Desai read out the statement in the court.
The senior lawyer reiterated that Mallya's presence was not required in the country for the court to hear his pleas against the fugitive tag and the provisions of the Act.
"If he (Mallya) were to appear in India, then all these proceedings would be rendered irrelevant as the statute says that once the offender appears in the concerned court of law, then all these orders would be set aside," Desai told the court.
The bench directed the Union government to file its reply to Mallya's statement and posted the matter for further hearing next month.
Mallya was declared a Fugitive Economic Offender in January 2019 by a special court hearing cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The businessman left India in March 2016.
