The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached the properties of liquor baron Vijay Mallya and his United Breweries (Holding) Ltd (UBHL) worth Rs 1,411 crore in connection with the IDBI Bank loan default worth Rs 807 crore. The ED attached the properties under the criminal provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Mallya is currently living in 'forced exile' in London. The assets include two flats in Bengaluru and Mumbai (2,291 and 1,300 sq ft each), bank balance of Rs 34 crore, 4.5 acres of industrial plot in Chennai, 28.75 acres of coffee plantation land in Coorg, residential and commercial properties at the UB City and Kingfisher Tower in Bengaluru, spread over 8.4 lakh square feet.
The ED said that some properties have been disposed of by Mallya. The ED probe revealed that the Rs 864 crore-loan was sanctioned to Kingfisher against a collateral security of Kingfisher brand, corporate guarantee of UBHL and a personal guarantee from Mallya, out of which Rs 807 crore remained unpaid.
The amount was sanctioned and disbursed despite the weak financials, negative net worth and low credit of the borrower company. A huge chunk of the loan was siphoned off abroad in a calculated and pre-designed manner. ED said that about Rs 423 crore were remitted outside India on the pretext of aircraft lease rentals without supporting documents.
PMLA investigations also revealed a criminal conspiracy behind the sanctioning of the loan to Kingfisher in gross violation of procedures. ED found that Kingfisher had no intention to repay.
ED found out that Mallya held a lot of movable and immovable properties in India as well as outside through various companies established by him or by his office personnel, and were directly or indirectly controlled by him.
On Friday, ED approached the court seeking Mallya to be declared as a proclaimed offender. This will help the ED to strengthen its case against the promoter of the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines for his extradition from the UK.
The IDBI loan case is being probed by two agencies. The ED is handling the money-laundering charges and the CBI is looking at whether IDBI Bank officials colluded with Mallya.
On July 29, 2015, the CBI had registered a criminal case against Kingfisher and unknown IDBI officers. Subsequently, the ED registered a money-laundering case on Jan 25, 2016, under PMLA.
The repeated non-cooperation of Mallya led the ED and the ministry of external affairs to revoke his passport and the special PMLA court issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against him. ED said that "further investigation is in progress".
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