Fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya today lost a legal battle to hold on to his plush London home after a British court refused to grant him a stay of enforcement in a long-running dispute with Swiss bank UBS.
Delivering his judgment virtually for the Chancery Division of the High Court, Deputy Master Matthew Marsh concluded there are no grounds for him to grant further time for the Mallya family to repay a 20.4-million-pound loan to UBS - the claimant in the case.
The judge also declined permission to appeal against his order or to grant a temporary stay of enforcement, which means UBS can proceed with the possession process to realise its unpaid dues.
When the bank sought a court order for enforcement in October last year, Mallya filed an application of stay on the grounds that the bank had placed "unreasonable obstacles" in his path to repay the sums through family trust funds.
The court order also forbade any further claims arising out of the bankruptcy proceedings against Mallya by a consortium of Indian banks led by State Bank of India (SBI), proceedings which concluded in a bankruptcy order in July last year.