Mallya assets freeze order in UK courts until April 2018

Agencies
December 14, 2017

London, Dec 14: Vijay Mallya, who is undergoing an extradition trial in a UK court over Rs 9,000-crore fraud and money laundering charges, will face next year a parallel litigation brought by 13 Indian banks to freeze nearly USD 1.5 billion of his assets.

According to court documents submitted at the UK High Court, the claim brought by the Indian banks against the 61- year-old embattled liquor baron will come up for a hearing in April next year.

"The First Respondent's (Mallya) application to set aside the Freezing Injunction is to be set down for hearing on the first available date after 11 April 2018 with a time estimate of 2 days," states the court document.

The litigation in the Queen's Bench Division of the commercial court in England's High Court of Justice lists the State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Corporation Bank, Federal Bank Ltd, IDBI Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Jammu & Kashmir Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of Mysore, UCO Bank, United Bank of India and JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Co. Pvt Ltd as the applicants.

Mallya and related concerns Ladywalk LLP, Rose Capital Ventures Ltd and Orange India Holdings are listed as respondents.

The claim, dated November 23, relates to a judgment of the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) in Karnataka dated January 19 this year, which concluded that Mallya was "liable" to the banks in the sum of INR 62,033,503,879.42 plus interest and as at November 22, that judgment sum is "still unsatisfied as to INR 98,530,512,249.42".

The "freezing order" involves Mallya and related concerns being "restrained until further order, from removing from the jurisdiction any of their assets in the jurisdiction up to a limit of 1,145,000,000 pounds and in any way disposing of, dealing with or diminishing the value of any of their assets whether they are inside or outside the jurisdiction up to the same value".

The UK court had upheld the Indian courts injunction last week and given Mallya's lawyers more time to respond due to the ongoing extradition trial at Westminster Magistrates Court, which is now expected to conclude on December 20.

A ruling in the extradition case is expected a few weeks later, by mid-January.

Meanwhile, Mallya remains on a 650,000-pound bail bond since his arrest on an extradition warrant by Scotland Yard in April this year.

Since December 4, he has been in court over five days of hearings to establish if he can be forced to return to India to face charges of fraud and money laundering involving his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines default of bank loans worth nearly Rs 9,000-crore.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), representing the Indian government, has claimed that the evidence they have presented confirms "dishonesty" on the part of the businessman, who acquired the loans through misrepresentation and had no intentions of repaying them.

Mallya's defence team has been deposing a series of expert witnesses to try and establish that the default by Kingfisher Airlines was the result of business failure within a wider context of a global financial crisis and that its owner had no "fraudulent" intentions.

The extradition case returns for one of its final hearings today, when Judge Emma Arbuthnot is set to hear the testimony of prisons expert Dr Alan Mitchell, who is expected to critique Indian jail conditions as a potential "bar to extradition".

The CPS will need to demonstrate a prima facie case to show that the criminal charges against Mallya, for which his extradition is sought, are justified.

The defence, on the other hand, will try and prove that the businessman will not get a fair trial in India because the case against him is "politically motivated".

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News Network
March 26,2020

New Delhi, Mar 26: The total number of people who have been confirmed positive for COVID-19 in India has risen to 649 in India, including 593 active cases and 42 people who have been cured or discharged from hospitals, according to the recent update by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Thursday morning.
The death toll due to the novel coronavirus in the country has reached 13, the official data reported. There have been 3 more deaths due to COVID-19 reported in the country since last evening.
An 85-year-old woman in Gujarat died yesterday while with the passing away of a 65-year-old woman, Madhya Pradesh reported its first COVID-19 death. Tamil Nadu also reported its first death in the state yesterday due to the deadly infection.
According to report from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) India had tested 24,254 people as of 8 p.m. on March 25.
The country is now in its second day of a 21-day lockdown that was announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday to deal with the spread of coronavirus, saying that "social distancing" is the only option to deal with the disease, which spreads rapidly.
The central government had on Wednesday announced that it will provide 7 kg ration to 80 crore people in India. The Centre also said that it has earmarked Rs 1.80 lakh crores for providing wheat at Rs 2 per kg and rice at Rs 3 per kg
"Union Cabinet has decided to provide wheat at Rs 2 per kg which is worth Rs 27 per kg and rice at Rs 3 per kg which is worth Rs 37 per kg. A total amount of Rs 1 lakh 80 thousand crores is being spent for the cause. The amount will be given in advance to the states for the coming 3 months," Union Minister Sadananda Gowda said yesterday.
Those shops which are catering to essential services will continue doing so during the 21-day nationwide lockdown.

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News Network
June 16,2020

New Delhi, June 16: Tensions along the Line of Control border between India and China have spiked with an Indian army officer and two soldiers killed in the Galwan area of Ladakh, the Indian army said in a statement on Tuesday.

This is the first time in decades that a clash involving casualties has taken place on the 3,488 kilometre border between India and China.

"During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place yesterday night with casualties. The loss of lives on the Indian side includes an officer and two soldiers. Senior military officials of the two sides are currently meeting at the venue to defuse the situation," said an official statement.

The two sides had made headway in talks last week with army chief General MM Naravane saying disengagement was in progress. The development had come after weeks of tension, including an incident in which patrolling soldiers from the two sides came to blows on the banks of Pangong Lake, resulting in injuries.

The two armies have since thinned out some forces in a positive signal but soldiers, tanks and other armoured carriers remained heavily deployed in the high-altitude region, an official had said.

India and China fought a brief border war in 1962 and have not been able to settle their border despite two decades of talks. Both claim thousands of kilometres of territory and patrols along the undemarcated Line of Actual Control - the de-facto border - often run into each other, leading to tensions. 

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Angry Indian
 - 
Tuesday, 16 Jun 2020

where is our angry desh bakth RSS and sanghi...hiding in rat hole or @%#hole...now you can show your 56 inch chest to chinese...when pakistan destroyed our two fighter jet that time i relised we are making an monkey army not indian army...still time exist, still we have courage army...but we lack leader...we have maron PM...and some dog follower..they only know to bark in media and whatsapp...in reality they are just real na pustak...

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News Network
March 7,2020

Mumbai, Mar 7: Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray visited Ayodhya on Saturday to commemorate 100 days in office and pledged Rs 1 crore towards the building of the Ram Temple.

Taking a dig at BJP, Uddhav said his party had separated from its erstwhile ally but not Hindutva.

Recollecting the contribution of his father Balasaheb Thackeray, uddhav said he was forced to skip the Sarayu River 'aarti' due to Coronavirus fears but he would continue visiting Ayodhya.

Earlier in the day, the Sena, which heads the tripartite dispensation in the state, said there was no change in its ideology.

Launching a veiled attack on BJP, an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' also said that Lord Ram and Hindutva is not the sole property of any single political party.

The Sena also said the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government — which also comprises the NCP and the Congress — has completed 100 days, much to the chagrin of those who were claiming that the new dispensation will not survive more than 100 hours.

“Those whose government lasted for 80 hours were claiming that the Thackeray regime will not last for even 100 hours. But this MVA government not only thrived but has instilled trust in the minds of people during this period with its performance,” the editorial said.

The Sena was apparently referring to the second inning of the erstwhile Devendra Fadnavis government which lasted for only 80 hours in November last year.

"Hence, CM Thackeray's visit to Ayodhya has to be welcomed as he is offering the flowers of works (done by the government) at the feet of Lord Shriram," it said.

The Sena said Thackeray's visit to the temple town is out of devotion for Lord Shriram. "The government in Maharashtra comprising three ideologically different parties is working as per Constitution and Thackeray is leading such government," it said.

The edit said on this background various questions were raised over Thackeray's visit to Ayodhya by his political opponents. "The government maybe backed by anyone, but Uddhav Thackeray and the Shiv Sena remain the same from within and outside. There is no change in the ideology. Lord Shriram and Hindutva is not the property of any single party," it stated.

Referring to senior RSS leader Suresh 'Bhaiyyaji' Joshi's remark that the Hindu community is not synonymous with the BJP and that opposing the BJP does not amount to opposing Hindus, the Sena said similarly Ayodhya belongs to all.

"The political and cultural battle in Ayodhya is now over. The Supreme Court cannot be thanked enough for this (for its verdict in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute case that allowed construction of the Ram temple)," it said.

Hailing the Supreme Court's November, 2019 verdict, the Sena said the country had to fight a big battle to prove that Ayodhya belonged to Lord Shriram.

"In that battle, several (people) were unmasked. But only (late) Shiv Sena president Balasaheb Thackeray stood behind the Ayodhya (temple) campaigners like a mountain," it said.

Bal Thackeray created trust among Hindus from across the world about the creation of the temple, the Sena said. The party further said late Thackeray's assertion that he was proud if the Babri mosque was razed by Sena workers and that the temple of Lord Ram would come up in Ayodhya was akin to the thunder of "thousands of lightnings" in the sky.

"The Hindu culture got lit up in the glow of that lightning. The resplendent rays showed the path of power to the Hindu community. Hence, no one can deny the contribution of the 'Hinduhridaysamrat' (Bal Thackeray) as good as that of Lord Shriram, in creating the current political order in the country," the Sena said.

"We have experienced several times that Balasaheb lives in the mind of Ayodhya. Now Uddhav Thackeray himself is going there with the same faith. He had gone there when not in power. He is going there now after becoming chief minister with the same humility. Lord Shriram is of everyone," the Sena said.

The party said Maharashtra is being run on the path shown by Lord Shriram and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. "A Ram Rajya entails fulfilling promises made to the people. This is precisely what Mahatma Gandhi wanted, and the government following this ideology is in place in Maharashtra. It will continue work on that line. Ultimately, Lord Shriram is there to support it," the Sena said.

Thackeray completed 100 days in the office on Friday. He had assumed office as the chief minister of the Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government on November 28 last year, after the Sena joined hands with the NCP and the Congress.

Senior Sena leader Sanjay Raut had said that Thackeray will not take part in the 'aarti' programme on the banks of river Sarayu in the temple town.

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