Mallya Cites CBI Feud in Swiss Court to Delay Sharing Bank Details

The Swiss Federal Tribunals have turned down Vijay Mallya’s plea against sharing his bank details with India.

Fugitive Indian businessman Vijay Mallya.

(Photo: IANS)

The Swiss Federal Tribunals have turned down the fugitive Indian businessman Vijay Mallya’s plea against sharing his bank account details with India, reported The Indian Express.

In his argument, Mallya had referred to the recent crisis in the CBI and said that the proceedings against him were “seriously flawed” since the key investigator himself was facing corruption charges, according to The Indian Express.

Gotham Digest which monitors all Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) requests to Swiss Federal Courts, uploaded the judgements. The Digest stated that Mallya’s argument against the CBI did not convince the court.

The three judgements pronounced by the Swiss Federal Tribunals in Lausanne on 26 November and 29 November show the attempts of Mallya’s lawyers to refrain from sharing his bank details with the CBI. His lawyers invoked Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which protects the right to fair trial, and linked it to allegations of corruption being faced by the key CBI investigator, reported The Indian Express.

However, the Swiss Federal Tribunal judges ruled that the plea of violation of ECHR protection did not apply in this case. It also ruled that submissions made by Mallya’s Swiss lawyers did not “constitute a ground for entry into the matter”.

According to The Indian Express, an order passed by the special CBI court in Mumbai allowed the attachment or restrain of amounts lying in four accounts – one in the name of Mallya in Edmond De Rethchild (Suisse) SA Bank, Switzerland and three associated accounts of Drayton Resources, Black Forest Holdings and Harrison Finance Ltd in CBH Bank in Switzerland till further order.

Mallya’s implicated companies such as Ladywalk Investments and Rose Capital Ventures were used by him to purchase a house in London with a loan from Swiss Bank UBS and other companies, according to Gotham Digest. In order to finance the Force India F1 racing team, First Euro Commercial Investments and Modall Securities were partly used.

(With inputs from The Indian Express.)