Offered Rs 14,000 crore to banks: Mallya’s firm tells SC
| Date :01-Oct-2020 |
NEW DELHI ;
FUGITIVE liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s United Breweries (Holding) Ltd on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that it had offered over Rs 14,000 crore to various banks to settle its dues and that the company’s assets exceeded its total debt. Senior advocate C S Vaidyanathan, appearing for United Breweries, submitted before a bench comprising Justices U U Lalit, Vineet Saran and S. Ravindra Bhat that the response of the banks had been received.
He contended that since the company’s assets exceeded the total debt, it was not the case wherein the company should be directed to wind up. He insisted that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had attached many assets of the company, as a result of which none was available to the banks. “The total amount offered is over Rs 14,000 crore whereas the total due amount is Rs 6,203 crore plus interest. But the allocation has been only Rs 430 crore,” Vaidyanathan contended.
He added that not a single attached property had been actually attached by the EDsince 2009. Vaidyanathan said that the petitioner was the guarantor though the loans were taken by Kingfisher and others. The submissions were made during hearing of United Breweries’ plea to challenge the Karnataka High Court order to uphold the winding-up of the company.