Summary The Supreme Court said banks should be given details of Mallya's overseas assets.
NEW DELHI (AFP) - India s top court said Tuesday details of embattled tycoon Vijay Mallya s assets would be shared with the banks chasing him over $1.34 billion in unpaid loans, despite his protestations the information should be kept private.
The Supreme Court said banks should be given details of Mallya s overseas assets, as well as those of his wife and children, as India s attorney general branded the absent entrepreneur a "fugitive from justice".
The 60-year-old liquor baron, who is being pursued by a group of mostly state-run lenders over loans made to his collapsed carrier Kingfisher Airlines, left India on March 2 and is believed to be in Britain.
In an affidavit filed last week, Mallya, who is a non-resident Indian (NRI), said the banks had no right to demand information about his family s overseas assets.
"The money involved belongs to banks. Mallya is playing hide and seek with banks and moreover he is a fugitive from justice," Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, who is representing the lenders, told the Supreme Court.
Earlier this month the banks rejected an offer to repay $600 million and told the Supreme Court they wanted him to return to India so they could negotiate with him personally over the total owed.
It comes days after India s government revoked Mallya s passport after he failed to appear before investigators over a separate probe into the misuse of funds at Kingfisher Airlines.
A court has issued an arrest warrant for Mallya after he did not turn up for questioning at the Enforcement Directorate, a financial crimes agency which is seeking his extradition.
That agency s probe relates to loans which IDBI bank made to Kingfisher Airlines, despite allegedly knowing it was suffering financial troubles, and whether money was siphoned off -- a charge Mallya s UB Group denies.
Mallya inherited United Breweries Group from his father at the age of 28 and turned it into one of the world s largest spirits makers, hosting extravagant parties with Bollywood stars and politicians along the way.
His profile rose further when he acquired a stake in the Force India F1 team and ownership of the Royal Challengers Bangalore cricket team.
