SpiceJet on Monday said it will pay $1.5 million to Credit Suisse as claimed by the Supreme Court.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court had directed SpiceJet to pay by September 15 in a case related to unpaid dues and warned the budget airline to take unspecified “drastic action” at the next hearing if it fails.
One-third of the money is part of the monthly settlement plan Spicejet had earlier agreed to with Credit Suisse, and the rest are unpaid dues of the bank which have been deposited since last year after the airline failed to meet the payment schedule.
If SpiceJet fails to pay, the Supreme Court will take “strict action” at the next hearing on September 22, it said.
“Enough for this dilly-dally business … We are not upset even if you die,” one of the two judges said during the hearing, which was attended by SpiceJet chief Ajay Singh.
The airline previously said the Credit Suisse loan was an old one that predated the tenure of its current management.
Credit Suisse and SpiceJet have been embroiled in a legal dispute since 2015 over unpaid bank dues of around $24 million, leading to the Madras High Court ordering the airline to shut down in 2021.
Even after agreeing to a settlement plan, the dues were not paid, and in March Credit Suisse asked the Supreme Court to initiate contempt proceedings for “a willful and intentional disobedience” of the court order against SpiceJet and Singh and failure to pay the dues of $4.5. Million
The court order is the latest setback for cash-strapped SpiceJet which had told a court last month that it was “struggling to float” after it directed its former owner Kalanithi Maran to pay Rs 100 crore by September 10. Arbitration order in a separate case.
In that case, the Delhi High Court heard on Monday, SpiceJet said it deposited Rs 625 million of that amount.
The airline said late on Monday that it would complete the payment of Rs 1 billion to Mr Maran by Tuesday.
