Mumbai (Gurpreet Singh): Fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya, facing multiple cases of alleged fraud and money laundering, told the Bombay High Court on Wednesday that he cannot specify when he will return to India as he is legally barred from leaving the United Kingdom.
In a statement submitted through his counsel Amit Desai, Mallya said he does not possess an active passport after it was revoked by the Indian government in 2016 and is therefore unable to provide a definite date of return.
The submission came after a bench led by Chief Justice Alok Aradhe (Note: if different CJ at time adjust) and Justice Gautam Ankhad had last week made it clear that it would not hear Mallya’s plea challenging the order declaring him a Fugitive Economic Offender unless he returns to India. The court had asked him to clarify whether he intended to come back.
Mallya, who has been based in the UK since 2016, has filed two petitions before the high court — one challenging the order declaring him a fugitive economic offender and another questioning the constitutional validity of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.
In the statement read out in court, Desai said that Mallya is prohibited under orders of courts in England and Wales from leaving or attempting to leave the country or from applying for or possessing any international travel document.
“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 told the bench.
The senior counsel argued that Mallya’s physical presence in India is not necessary for the high court to hear his challenge against the fugitive tag and provisions of the Act. He submitted that if Mallya were to appear in India, the proceedings would become redundant as the law provides that once an offender appears before the concerned court, the declaration can be set aside.
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 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). He left India in March 2016.
