Mallya ‘prime mover’ in money laundering case: ED charge sheet

Agency names nine others besides fugitive tycoon in the ₹900 crore IDBI-Kingfisher Airlines bank loan case

June 15, 2017 12:30 am | Updated 08:33 am IST - Mumbai:

In the dock: Vijay Mallya (centre) leaves court in central London on Tuesday, before which he appeared to fight an extradition request from India.

In the dock: Vijay Mallya (centre) leaves court in central London on Tuesday, before which he appeared to fight an extradition request from India.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed its first charge sheet against Vijay Mallya and nine others in connection with its money laundering probe in the ₹900 crore IDBI-KFA bank loan case.

The 5,500-page charge sheet, with voluminous annexures and statements and 57 pages of complaint, was filed under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) before a special PMLA court. Counsel for the ED Hiten Venegavkar said besides Mr. Mallya, the charge sheet names former IDBI chairman Yogesh Aggarwal, former Kingfisher Airlines CFO A. Raghunathan, IDBI executives O.V. Bundellu, S.K.V Srinivasan, R.S. Sridhar, B.K. Batra, and Kingfisher Airlines executives Shailesh Borke, A.C. Shah and Amit Nadkarni. All those named in the charge sheet except Mr. Mallya were arrested by the CBI in connection with the same case and named in its charge sheet.

Mr. Venegavkar said, “The complaint details the investigation by the ED against Vijay Mallya and points to him being guilty of money laundering. This step will also strengthen the prosecution’s case against Mr. Mallya before a London court for his extradition.”

The agency has called Mr. Mallya the ‘prime mover’ in the scam, and has described how bank loan money was allegedly routed illegally, including substantial amounts for Formula One (F1) races abroad. Mr. Mallya owns the F1 team Force India, based in Silverstone, U.K.

The ED has appended statements of KFA and IDBI Bank officials recorded under PMLA. It describes how over ₹400 crore were moved abroad in alleged violation of rules. Its investigation found that Mr. Mallya and senior KFA and IDBI executives “criminally conspired to obtain funds to the tune of ₹860.92 crore despite weak financials, negative net-worth, non-compliance of corporate credit policy of new client, non-quality collateral security and low credit rating of the borrower, out of which ₹807.82 crore of the principal amount remains unpaid”.

The agency had registered a criminal case in this deal last year under PMLA and has attached assets worth over ₹9,600 crore till now. The total loan sanctioned and disbursed by IDBI Bank to KFA was ₹860.92 crore. The ED said its money trail analysis revealed that of the total loan amount disbursed, ₹423 crore has been remitted out of India. The said payments were shown to be made towards aircraft rental leasing and maintenance, servicing and spare parts, the charge sheet said. The ED is expected to file a supplementary charge sheet in this case.

Mr. Mallya, 61, is wanted by Indian law enforcement agencies for defaulting on several bank loans amounting to nearly ₹9,000 crore. During his appearance in a London court on Tuesday, he had claimed to have enough evidence to plead his case, and taunted authorities saying, “You can keep dreaming about a billion pounds.” He has been in the UK since March 2016 and was arrested by the Scotland Yard on an extradition warrant on April 18.

The case is being investigated by the CBI as well. - With PTI inputs

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.