Vijay Mallya given three weeks to reply to ED’s fugitive offender plea

Mallya got the breather owing to an error by the Enforcement Directorate’s investigating officer. The officer did not attach a copy of the complaint and annexed documents along with the notice.

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya, on Monday, got a three-week breather to file his response to the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) plea to declare him a fugitive economic offender, owing to an error by the ED’s investigating officer. The officer did not attach a copy of the complaint and annexed documents along with the notice.

Vijay Mallya outside the Westminster Magistrates Court in London, Monday, Dec. 4, 2017. (AP File Photo)

The special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court had granted Mallya time till August 27 to appear before the court.

His lawyer Amit Desai raised the grievance that while serving the notice, the agency failed to attach documents in the absence of which he was unable to defend his client. The court then directed the agency to serve the required attachments and scheduled the hearing on Monday. On Monday, Desai sought more time claiming the documents are voluminous and it is not possible to file a reply within such a short time.

The ED’s counsel contested the claims, stating the documents are not required to be attached with the notice. However, the court rejected the objection raised by ED. Granting three more weeks for Mallya’s lawyers to reply to the plea, it said it would hear the applications filed in the case on a day-to-day basis once Mallya files a reply.