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Vijay Mallya saves his London home through trusts registered in Bahamas

14 February 2022 By Ron Emler

Vijay Mallya will not lose is palacial London home. Despite a High Court judge ruling less than a month ago that Swiss bank UBS could repossess the property in fashionable Regent’s Park because the fugitive former head of India’s United Spirits and United Breweries had serially defaulted on a £20 million mortgage, a court in the Bahamas has come to his rescue.

The Bahamas High Court has ruled that Mallya’s mother and children are beneficiaries of three trust funds established there in his name. Mallya’s global assets are frozen under a London court ruling but that does not apply to other members of his family so money within the trusts can be released to them to repay UBS.

Separately, India’s Supreme Court has given Mallya a final two weeks in which to appear before it either personally or via a legal representative. He has already been found in contempt of the court for failing to fully disclose his full assets in hearings relating to the failure in 2012 of his Kingfisher Airlines.

When the business failed a consortium of Indian banks successfully sued Mallya personally for outstanding loans of £1.15 billion. Since then those debts have been met through forced seizure and sale of Mallya’s assets in India. However, he still faces charges of fraud and money laundering.

The hearing later this month is predicted to sentence him in his absence.

Mallya fled to Britain almost six years ago on the eve of being arrested. He has exhausted all court processes to avoid extradition to India but remains in the UK until a “confidential legal matter” is resolved.

This is widely believed to be a request for asylum.

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