Vijay Mallya reaches out to Indian officials, may want to return: Report

Under this recently promulgated ordinance, the government can immediately confiscate all linked properties of Mallya in the country and abroad

Embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya, the main accused in a Rs 9,000 crore alleged bank fraud case, is understood to have sounded out to Indian authorities that he was willing to come back home to face the law, official sources said on Tuesday.

Mallya, who is contesting in a London court the Indian government's action for extradition, is said to have sent feelers to authorities that he would like to join the legal process in India and contest the recent action against him under the Fugitive Economic Offender Ordinance.

Under this recently promulgated ordinance, the government can immediately confiscate all linked properties of Mallya in the country and abroad.

However, top sources in investigative agencies said the final contours of the move are still not clear as they refused to divulge more details.

A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court in Mumbai had last month issued summons to the beleaguered businessman to appear before it on August 27 on the Enforcement Directorate's plea seeking action against him under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance in the over Rs 9,000 crore bank fraud case.

The central probe agency, as part of this action, has also sought immediate confiscation of assets worth around Rs 12,500 crore of Mallya.

If he does not appear before the court or respond to its summons on the designated date, Mallya risks being declared a fugitive economic offender, besides properties linked to him being confiscated.

Mallya, his now defunct venture Kingfisher Airlines Limited and others availed loans from various banks during the tenure of the UPA-I government and the outstanding amount, including interest, against him is Rs 9,990.07 crore at present, officials had said.

He had recently said he has become the "poster boy" of bank default and a lightning rod for public anger.

The liquor baron had said that he had written letters to both the prime minister and the finance minister on April 15, 2016, to explain his side of the story.

Both the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have filed separate criminal cases of alleged loan default against him.

A hearing in the extradition case is expected to be heard in London this month end where a team of Indian investigators will remain present.

Formula One: Force India open to offers, says Vijay Mallya

Mallya says he had lost count of how many offers he had received for the team, and expected that to continue with changes in the distribution of prize money expected from 2021

Force India’s shareholders would consider serious offers for the British-based Formula One team but there are none at present, according to co-owner and principal Vijay Mallya.

The Indian businessman, who has a 42.5 per cent stake, said there was a possibility of main sponsor BWT getting more involved and changing the team’s name.

“If somebody comes along and wants to pay an attractive price for anything, you have to put your commercial hat on and think about it commercially, not emotionally,” Mallya told Reuters at the British Grand Prix. “And that’s precisely where I am.

“I cannot comment on the status of offers or discussions. But there is no agreed offer on the table backed by cash.”

Mallya is fighting in court against extradition to India on fraud charges, with Indian banks seeking to recover loans granted to his defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

His difficulties and those of co-owners Sahara Group have triggered speculation about the team’s future. But Mallya insisted they had no bearing on the day-to-day running of the team.

India’s Sahara conglomerate has been ordered to repay billions of dollars to investors in bonds that were ruled to have been mis-sold.

“Sahara’s problems and my problems are not new problems. They have been going on for more than three years. And within that period we have finished twice in fourth position in the world constructors’ championship,” said Mallya.

“This team is independent, it’s professionally managed. And it performs. So whatever difficulties the shareholders may or may not have, it doesn’t impact the team.”

ALSO READ: UK court entitled to take assets in my name, can't go a step beyond: Mallya

Mallya said he had lost count of how many offers he had received for the team over the last 10 years and expected that to continue with changes in the distribution of prize money expected from 2021.

“When Liberty (Media) took over (the sport last year) and everybody thought things would change, there was serious interest from even private equity,” he said.

Shock and awe: Note ban, Jio launch, GST & other headline grabbers of 2016

Business Standard recaps the most prominent economic and corporate developments of the year

By almost any yardstick the year has been unique: Public policy, business rivalries and implosions, court verdicts and corporate malfeasance set new standards of shock and awe that will reverberate well into 2017.

Business Standard recaps the most prominent of economic corporate developments


Demonetisation

In terms of disruptive impact, this was a decision with few parallels in Indian policy-making. On November 8 evening, just as Donald Trump recorded an unlikely victory in the US presidential polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi came on national television to announce the withdrawal of legal tender status to Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, taking roughly 86 per cent of currency out of circulation. Citizens were given time till

December 30 to deposit old notes, but draconian withdrawal controls were put in place.

It was not just ordinary Indians who were caught unawares by this decision, which was initially explained as a route to staunching black money and terror finance. The government and Reserve Bank of India (RBI), too, seemed unprepared.  For one, the new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes required over 100,000 ATMs to be recalibrated, an exercise that could not begin till after the announcement was made in the interests of confidentiality. For another, the assumptions on which the decision was made played out so differently in reality, that 60 notifications have been issued over one and a half months imposing new conditions or reversing other ones.  

The Reliance-Jio launch

The Tata-DoCoMo controversy

Goods and Services Tax

The RIL-ONGC spat

Nikesh Arora’s exit from SoftBank

The Singur verdict

Breaking News & Latest News | Business Standard

Indian banks flawed, have been hacked several times: Legion

Aside from consuming copious amount of drugs, next on the agenda of hacker group 'Legion', which recently hacked into the official Twitter handles of Vijay Mallya, Rahul Gandhi, Barkha Dutt and Ravish Kumar, is to target Loading ..., which provides email services to government employees, and former IPL boss Lalit Modi.

In an encrypted chat interview with FactorDaily, Legionreportedly said: “Next is a dump of sansad-.nic.in emails. Which is — quite big. It includes a lot of _BIG FISH_". While posting from one the Twitter handles they had hacked, the group also named Lalit Modi as an intended target.

In another conversation with Economic Times, Legionsaid the Indian banking system is "deeply flawed" and has been hacked several times. According to the report, Legion even revealed the financial institutions that have been hacked by them but ET refrained from publishing their names.

Legion has reportedly been pulling off hacks for ten years and have also been wanted by multiple international agencies.

Political motives?

Despite having hacked Rahul Gandhi's account, the group, reportedly, does not have any political motives. The member interviewed by the Washington Post added that Legion wasn't even interested in “political data” until a few weeks ago. The group describes itself as "anarchist".

The FactorDaily reporter specifically asked the group's member as to why they had not targeted any leaders or individuals affiliated to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The member made it clear that the group had no particular sympathy for the ruling party in India. "We will own them (BJP) too, when the time is right," said the member.

The data picks the targets for them

While speaking to the Washington Post, the group's member said that they were in possession of vast amounts, allegedly in the terabytes, of raw data and that the group had been sorting out data regarding public figures in the country. The member said that the "data was choosing the targets for them". (read more)

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Going after Vijay Mallya? What about Rs 30,000 cr taxpayers lost in Air India

"What is the difference between Vijay Mallya who lost Rs 10,000 crore and Air India which lost Rs 30,000 crore? Bank money is lost (in case of KFA) and public taxpayer's money is lost (in AI's case)," asks Mohandas Pai, former Chief Financial Officer and HR Head of Infosys.

The only difference - Air India has a forgiving promoter - government of India who stood by the company despite the atrocious decisions taken by its management and those responsible for its growth and wellbeing. Read More.

Why was Vijay Mallya allowed to leave India, Cong asks govt

The Congress Party on Thursday criticised the BJP-led NDA Government for not arresting liquor baron Vijay Mallya and allowing him to leave the country freely.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad said Mallya is not a small instrument like a needle, which cannot be seen from a far distance.

Read More.

Banks ask Supreme Court to stop Vijay Mallya leaving India

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a plea filed by a consortium of 17 PSU banks seeking a direction that industrialist Vijay Mallya be restrained from leaving India. The apex court will take up the matter on Wednesday. mybs.inRead More

10 unanswered questions on the Diageo-Vijay Mallya deal

British liquor giant, Diageo and Vijay Mallya, Chairman of UB group, on Thursday signed a settlement agreementthat absolves Mallya of claims over diversion of funds from United Spirits to other UB group firms, including Kingfisher Airlines. But the transaction comes at a huge cost to USL’s minority shareholders as the Indian company will no longer take any action on the recovery of Rs 2,100 crore from various UB group entities.