Vijay Mallya, a fugitive liquor tycoon, was sentenced to four months in prison by the Supreme Court

*Paromita Das

The Indian fugitive and businessman Vijay Mallya was sentenced to four months in jail and fined Rs 2000 by the Supreme Court on Monday for contempt of court in 2017.

Supreme Court awards 4-month jail sentence and imposes Rs 2000 fine on fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya who was found guilty of contempt of court in 2017 for withholding information from the court pic.twitter.com/Z8zP5P8qdf

— ANI (@ANI) July 11, 2022

Mallya was found guilty of two counts of contempt of court by the SC on May 9, 2017. Both the “flagrant violation” of orders made by the Karnataka High Court and withholding information from the court about transferring USD 40 million to his children in violation of the court’s order constitutes the first offense.

A bench of the Supreme Court led by Justice UU Lalit today mandated that Mallya repay USD 40 million with interest within four weeks and pay a Rs 2000 fine. The court warned that if he didn’t, his possessions would be seized.

The bench of Justices UU Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat, and P S Narasimha of the Supreme Court reserved its decision on March 10 of this year. Mallya was given numerous opportunities to appear before the SC in person or through counsel, but he disobeyed the court’s directive. “We have said in the judgement of 2017 that the action of the contemnor in disbursing USD 40 million was contempt,” the SC said in a statement released today.

To uphold the majesty of the law, we must impose an appropriate sentence on the defendant, and the disputed sums are subject to execution.
The court further stated that throughout the trial, the wanted liquor baron exhibited no remorse.

Mallya had one final opportunity to appear before the Supreme Court Bench on February 10—he could do so in person or through a representative. The court noted that “sufficiently long” had passed.

On November 30, 2021, the Supreme Court made the decision to continue the proceedings to decide the length of Mallya’s sentence for contempt of court, noting that it could no longer wait for Mallya’s extradition from the UK.
“We have run out of patience. Respondent No. 3 (Mallya) has exhausted all domestic appeals rights, and the extradition proceedings have reached their conclusion. The Bench had stated that the matter (sentencing in the contempt case) would be resolved definitively on January 18, 2022.

Mallya has already been charged with missing payments on bank loans totaling Rs 9,000 crore related to his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. Since March 2016, Mallya has been residing in the United Kingdom after leaving the nation.
He was the first person ever to be designated a fugitive economic offender based on an Enforcement Directorate plea in 2019. The London court declared him bankrupt in July 2021. He had previously lost the legal fight to prevent his extradition to India in May 2020. He hasn’t yet made it back, though, to stand trial. Mallya is still out on bail.