You can recover Rs 9,000 crore loan from Vijay Mallya: DRT tells banks

Mumbai: Debt Recovery Tribunal on Thursday allowed banks to recover Rs 9,000 crore they loaned to now defunct Kingfisher Airlines run by Vijay Mallya.

The ruling will further tighten the noose around Vijay Mallya who has been living in a self-imposed exile in the UK since March 2016.

Mallya who at the time was a Rajya Sabha member left the country on a diplomatic passport on March 2 after attending House proceedings a day earlier.

A consortium of 17 banks led by State Bank of India, country's largest public sector lender, had approached the tribunal seeking instructions to liquor baron to pay back the loan.

The ruling closes a three-year legal battle that the banks first brought in to the tribunal in 2013. It also allows bankers to start criminal proceedings to recover Rs 6,203 crore debt from beleaguered businessman.

Banks took up the debt case with DRT as a last resort after several attempts by lenders for a settlement with Mallya failed. SBI had earlier declared him a wilful defaulter after he did not fulfill debt repayment conditions.

Mallya was also declared a proclaimed offender by a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act or PMLA Court in Mumbai as he did not appear in court on several occasions.

Enforcement Directorate, leading financial agency that works under department of revenue of finance ministry is also conducting a parallel investigation and probing the case with a money laundering angle.