The Karnataka High Court on Friday issued bailable warrant against businessman Vijay Mallya and directed the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to execute the warrant at his current place of residence in the UK by invoking the provisions of the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) signed by India with that country.
Also, Mallya will have to furnish a bond for ₹50 lakh on service of warrant to him at his UK address.
A Division Bench comprising Justice BS Patil and Justice BV Nagarathna passed the order as Mallya failed to personally appear before the Bench, despite several opportunities, for the purpose of framing of charges against him in connection with a contempt of court case initiated against him and the warrant issued earlier through the Bengaluru city police could not be served as he is not available at his Bengaluru address.
The High Court requires his personal appearance as it had found prima facie case against him to frame charges for allegedly breaching an undertaking given to the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) in 2013 during the proceedings on plea by a consortium of banks for recovering dues from Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. The contempt proceedings was initiated on a complaint by the banks that Mallya had pledged huge number of shares in violation of an “oral undertaking” before the DRT “for not to transfer, alienate or otherwise to dealt with his assets.”
The Court issued direction to the MHA after the counsel for the banks submitted the details of India’s agreement with the UK, and pointed out that Section 105 of the Code of Criminal Procedure allows execution of summons and warrants to the accused persons residing abroad through arrangements evolved by the Central government for this purpose.