Mallya is already under the scanner of investigating agencies for defaulting loans from a consortium of banks, led by the State Bank of India (SBI).
Was Vijay Mallya, who on Thursday announced his exit from the Diageo-controlled United Spirits Ltf (USL) board with a sweat deal and decided to settle in the UK, trying to escape India's investigating agencies?
Mallya is already under the scanner of investigating agencies for defaulting loans from a consortium of banks, led by the State Bank of India (SBI).
Based on the findings of SBI's forensic audit of the Rs7,000-crore loan, the finance ministry said that last year, Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) diverted a part of the loan.
Sources say that a major chunk of the loans, to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore, extended to KFA by public sector banks, which are now under CBI probe, were suspected to have been diverted to tax havens such as Cayman Island and Mauritius.
It has also come to light that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had launched a preliminary enquiry against the 'king of good times' under the anti-money laundering laws to ensure that he does not escape to friendly countries, just like former commissioner of Indian Premier League (IPL) Lalit Modi, whose deportation from the UK is long awaited after a series of red-corner notices.
With this, the enforcement sleuths are also in the process of short-listing Mallya's properties in India and overseas. This include his UK properties, too, where the ED is planning to intiate legal procedures for attachments.
The move comes after Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials met ED director Karnal Singh and other senior officials in Mumbai last week.
“We have taken stock of the CBI probe into the Kingfisher Airlines case till now. If required, properties would be attached. The law will take its own course,” a senior ED official told dna.
The enforcement sleuths are also in touch with SBI officials for details of Mallya's debt- and auctioning-related details, a source close to the development said.
Meanwhile, the exit agreement of Rs 515 crore between Diageo and Mallya, with a 5-year non-compete clause, has reportedly come under the market regulator's scanner.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is looking into possible violations of corporate governance and other norms because of this deal, according to a PTI report.The regulator is looking into the trading data of USL shares to check whether there have been any violation of insider trading norms or other irregularities.
The CBI is probing Mallya for his role in the sanctioning of the Rs 900-crore loan in favour of KFA, which was in violation of banking norms.
Mallya was questioned by the CBI in December 2015 with regard to the case involving some senior level officials of the IDBI Bank. These officials are accused of colluding with Mallya to get the massive loan for his company despite his airline's negative credit ratings and net worth.
However, enforcement sleuths are looking into the wider angle of the case. “We are looking at the larger aspect of the loan scam. We are in the process of examining information/evidences against the loan amount which Mallya's airlines had taken from almost 20 banks."
It was found that the Rs 336 crore sanctioned by Union Bank of India (UBI) was withdrawn and deposited in another account with a private bank by KFA. This was also against the rules.
SBI has the highest exposure of Rs 1,600 crore to KFA. As part of the recovery process, the SBI-led consortium has decided to auction Kingfisher House in Mumbai next month.
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