London: Embattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya was granted access to around 1.1 million pounds from court-held funds to meet his living expenses and legal costs by the High Court in London on Monday.
Deputy Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Nigel Barnett presided over a remote hearing to rule over the level of access to the funds held with the Court Funds Office (CFO), as part of bankruptcy proceedings brought by a consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) in pursuit of unpaid loans.
Mallya’s lawyers had argued that his client should have access to the court-deposited funds earned from the sale of Le Grand Jardine so that he could bear his daily expenses and legal expenses. Following this order, the former Kingfisher Airlines chief has now been allowed to withdraw money from the court to meet legal expenses in relation to his stay and opposition to the bankruptcy petition.
Mallya is on bail in the UK and has lost another legal battle to extradite India to face fraud and money laundering charges.