LONDON: Indian fugitive business tycoon Vijay Mallya and his family are set to be evicted from their multi-million-pound London home after mortgagee Swiss bank UBS won the right in court on Tuesday to repossess it and sell it.
Mallya lives in the lavish Grade-1 listed home 18-19 Cornwall Terrace — two terraced houses converted into one home — overlooking Regent’s Park, with his 34-year-old actor son Sidhartha and his 95-year-old mother Lalitha, wife of the late industrialist Vittal Mallya.
If the family do not leave immediately of their own accord, they may get evicted from the house by bailiffs.
At the end of the hearing in the chancery division of the high court in London on Tuesday, the barrister for UBS, Fenner Moeran QC, said the bank would not delay any enforcement proceedings. The house is worth tens of millions of pounds.
Deputy master Marsh of the high court in London dismissed on Tuesday Rose Capital’s application for a stay of enforcement and also refused to stay Tuesday’s judgment pending any appeal. It also refused permission to appeal, saying: “Rose Capital’s position is completely hopeless.” He said the company “has had more than sufficient time to resolve this and I am satisfied there is no real prospect that another judge will take a different view and you would succeed on appeal.” Daniel Margolin, representing the Mallyas, said: “This will have serious consequences for my clients, including Vijay Mallya and a lady of some 95 years of age”. He requested a “stay of execution pending appeal in case enforcement officers start turning up in the next few days”. This was refused.
However, Rose Capital and Mallya plan to contest Tuesday’s judgment by seeking permission to appeal from a different judge, but, since there is no stay, bailiffs can now enter the house. Mallya has another house in Tewin, Hertfordshire, which he bought off Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton’s father, Anthony, worth over Rs 100 crore.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/vijay-mallya-loses-battle-to-keep-london-home/articleshow/88982607.cms
