Vijay Mallya's $10 Million Trump Plaza Deal Struck Just Last Month

New Delhi: As Indian banks queued up to collect nearly a billion dollars owed by his Kingfisher Airlines, Vijay Mallya struck a deal last month that would allow him to retain an apartment in the famous Trump Plaza in Manhattan. For 10 million dollars.

The penthouse was picked up by the liquor baron as part of a series of purchases he made in the glitzy building through 2010 - through the year, he acquired three apartments, including a penthouse in the name of his daughter Tanya.

At the time, he paid 4.6 million dollars or Rs 21 crores (USD 1 = Rs 46 as per the exchange rate then) according to documents of the New York Department of Finance.
 But last year, Mr Mallya received a notice from Trump Plaza reminding him that he owed 10.1 million dollars to retain the penthouse in his daughter's name.

The amount was Mr Mallya's share in a settlement reached between Trump Plaza (a cooperative, where flat-owners are shareholders) and the original owners of the land on which the tower was built.

Farah Halime is a journalist at the New York real estate portal TheRealDeal.com who has tracked this negotiation. She told NDTV that for a while it seemed like Mr Mallya would have to surrender the penthouse because of his financial troubles.
 But last month, Mr Mallya is said to have reached a settlement with Trump Plaza to retain the flat, suggesting that despite his vast unpaid loans in India, he has been able to raise the 10 million dollars needed in Manhattan.

"He (Mallya) is a shareholder in good standing," said an official at Douglas Elliman, a New York-based realty firm that handles the Trump Plaza account, when asked by NDTV if Mr Mallya had reached a settlement with the Trump Plaza board.

Queries sent to United Breweries, Mr Mallya's firm, were not answered.
 The Trump Plaza settlement comes as the Enforcement Directorate has alleged that Mr Mallya used loans given to his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines to buy properties abroad. The agency is in particular probing a Rs 900 crore loan Kingfisher received from state-run IDBI Bank in 2009, a year before the Trump Plaza purchases.  

Mr Mallya, who flew to London early in March and has refused to return since, told the Supreme Court yesterday that no loan was used by him to buy properties abroad.

An arrest warrant has been issued for him in connection with the IDBI loan; the government has also suspended the diplomatic passport he uses as a member of Parliament as a move towards forcing him to return home.