Mumbai, February 18 Fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya informed the Bombay High Court on Wednesday that he is unable to provide a definite timeline for his return to India, citing the revocation of his passport and also being legally barred from leaving the UK.
A statement from Mallya was submitted by his counsel Amit Desai in response to a directive from a bench comprising Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad, which had last week signaled that it would refuse to hear Mallya's petitions against his "fugitive economic offender" status unless he clarified his intent to return to face trial.
Based in the UK since 2016, Mallya has filed two petitions in the high court – one challenging an order declaring him a fugitive economic offender and the other questioning the constitutional validity of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.
The 70-year-old liquor baron is accused of defaulting on multiple loan repayments of several thousand crores and facing money laundering charges.
Mallya's legal team argued that his absence is a consequence of international legal constraints rather than choice, noting that his Indian passport was revoked in 2016 and that the orders of courts in England and Wales prohibit him from leaving the country.
The businessman said in his statement that he cannot give a definite date of return to India as he did not have an active passport after it was revoked by the Indian government in 2016, and also because there are orders of courts in England and Wales that prohibit him from leaving the country.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 counsel 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.
