NEW DELHI: The family of fugitive Indian businessman Vijay Mallya who has taken asylum in the United Kingdom (UK)has managed to get a favourable decision in their favour on to their plush central London home as a court in the UK, ruled that refinancing of a loan by a family trust firm would not be in breach of the worldwide freezing order (WFO), in place against the embattled liquor baron. 

The Mallya family trust Rose Capital Ventures (RCV), based out of British Virgin Islands firm which owns the Cornwall Terrace property in central London had made an application in the London High Court which was heard last Friday in their favour.

The family owns Numbers 18 and 19 blocks of the sprawling property constructed, between 1821 and 1823 is one of the most expensive properties in the UK. Banks wanting to claim his assets found that the property was owned by RCV, which is owned by Gladco Properties, which is owned by Continental Administration Service Ltd (CASL). CASL is a trustee of the Sileta Trust, which is a Mallya family trust.

Judge Simon Rainey QC ruled that the refinancing was a "permissible transaction and the proposed realisations are proper," as it meant investment in a prime London property. the judge noted. 

The legal battle to hold on to the Cornwall Terrace apartment overlooking Regent's Park in London by Mallya and his co-defendants, namely his mother Lalitha and son Sidhartha Mallya started in 2017 when the five-year term on a loan from Swiss Bank UBS expired. The bank then proceeded to redeem the GBP 2.4 million unpaid amount of the loan, which was taken out by RCV. 

At a hearing in 2020, the London court had confirmed that RCV re-financing its UBS loan was permitted under the WFO as it was in the ordinary and proper course of RCV's business. That application, however, did not consider the realisation of investments owned by Mallya trust entities to enable that loan to be made to RCV.