'Waited sufficiently long, can't be waiting any longer for Mallya'
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday observed it has waited sufficiently long enough and can't now be waiting "any longer" for fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya held guilty of contempt in 2017, and said it will "finally" proceed with the sentencing aspect on January 18 next whether he appears or not.
Noting that Mallya, who is presently in the United Kingdom (UK), was held guilty of contempt in 2017 and the matter was thereafter to be listed to hear him on the proposed punishment to be awarded to him, a bench headed by Justice U U Lalit also said the contempt case has to see the light of the day at some stage or the other and the process must also get over.
The 65-year-old businessman, wanted in India on fraud and money laundering charges, is in the UK since March 2016 and is on bail on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard on April 18, 2017. The liquor baron is an accused in the bank loan default case of over Rs 9,000 crore involving his defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
The top court had last year dismissed Mallya's plea seeking review of its May 9, 2017 verdict which held him guilty of contempt for transferring USD 40 million to his children in violations of the court orders.
The apex court noted that as per an office memorandum, under the signature of Deputy Secretary (extradition) of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), placed before it, the proceedings for extradition have attained finality and Mallya has exhausted all avenues for appeal in the UK.
The bench, also comprising Justices S R Bhat and Bela M Trivedi, noted that the November 30 office memorandum also refers to proceedings pending in the UK which are stated to be confidential and as such no details are getting disclosed .
What we wish to do is, we will list this matter for disposal in second week of January because we have waited sufficiently long enough, we can't now be waiting any longer It has to see the light of the day at some stage or the other and the process must also get over, the bench observed during the hearing.
The court said it will list the matter in January for disposal and at that juncture, if Mallya wants to take part personally, he will be here through the extradition proceedings and in case, he is not, the bench will hear the submissions of his lawyer.
In its order, the top court said Mallya is at liberty to advance the submissions and if for any reason, he is not present before the court, lawyer on his behalf can advance submissions.
The bench noted that Mallya was held guilty of contempt in 2017 but because of certain proceedings, which at the relevant time were going on in courts of law in the UK, his presence could not be secured despite directions issued by the apex court.
The top court requested senior advocate Jaideep Gupta to assist it as an amicus curiae in the matter. The matter shall be dealt with finally on January 18, 2022, it said.
Noting that the office memorandum placed before it refers to certain proceedings which are stated to be confidential, the bench said it appeared that these are the same proceedings which were referred to in the November last year order. When the matter was taken up for hearing at 2 PM, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, told the bench that he has just received a communication from the MEA.
The communication was placed before the bench which perused it. When the matter was taken up for hearing during the pre-lunch session, the apex court said it proposes to go ahead with the contempt matter and list it for hearing on sentencing.
What we propose to pass an order that we will list the matter for hearing on sentence because the advocate (for Mallya) continues to appear. So, therefore, there is no embargo on hearing the advocate on sentence. We will go ahead with that, the bench said.
Advocate Rajat Nair, appearing for the Centre, then told the bench that he is being led by the Solicitor General, who is arguing before another court.
