A UK judge who ordered Vijay Mallya’s extradition on Monday described him as a “flashy, bejewelled playboy”, but the erstwhile liquor baron no longer wears his trademark jewellery or goes out for spins on his Ferrari, Porsche or Maybach.
His counsel Amit Desai informed MS Azmi, special trial court judge in Mumbai, on Tuesday that every asset belonging to the controversial tycoon has either been attached or is in custody of courts. “He has handed over to the bailiff of the court in London even his watch, jewellery and his cars. He doesn’t have a single asset in his possession.’’ In better times, Mallya had been spotted with two gold necklaces, each worth Rs 10 lakh, diamond earrings, a diamond bracelet or any one of nine luxury watches, including a Audemars Piguet worth Rs 70 lakh.
While the counsel did not spell out the list of personal items now in custody of the UK court, media accessed documents which reveal what he had handed over: nine automobiles, three yachts, seven jewellery pieces, nine watches, two gem stones and an antique suit of armour replete with 12 swords and two shields. This was done in proceedings adopted in UK by a consortium of banks to enforce a debt recovery tribunal order against him.
His personal pieces are among almost 70 assets listed as handed over in “compliance with the worldwide freezing order of November 2017”. Some of the attached assets are in India. Among cars no longer in his possession are a Rolls Royce Phantom worth Rs 95 lakh, a Mini John Cooper, a Range Rover, a Bentley Turbo R 1991 and three Ferraris, one which is valued at Rs 4.3 crore. The automobile fleet is valued at Rs 16 crore. His yachts, Zippo, Kingstar (the most expensive, costing over Rs 8 crore) and Seta Ella, are together valued at almost Rs 30 crore. Two were in Southampton, UK, and the other in Cannes, France.
His jewellery includes diamond earrings worth over Rs 3 crore, a blue sapphire ring, a diamond bracelet, a diamond ring valued at Rs 2.7 crore, and one green emerald, all in UK. His collection of watches was valued at Rs 2.6 crore, while two amethyst stones together are worth Rs 9 crore. The rest of his assets include his bank accounts, fixed deposits and shares.
By
Swati Deshpande
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