INDIA ACTS, REVOKES MALLYA’S PASSPORT
MEA moves a step closer to initiating tycoon’s deportation
The Centre's chase to get back embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya continues. After suspending his passport at the request of the Enforcement Directorate, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has now revoked it. The foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said: "After having considered replies by Vijay Mallya, MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) revoked his passport under Sec.10 (3)(c) & (h) of Passports Act." Earlier on Friday, the Central government had said that it was committed to bringing Mallya back in India to face justice. “We are considering steps for Mallya's deportation," Swarup had said.
Weeks ago, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had asked that Mallya''s passport be revoked for non-cooperation with investigators, after he failed to present himself before the agency that has summoned him three times. He was supposed to present himself before the ED's investigators in Mumbai on April 15 in connection with a money laundering probe in the more than Rs 9,000 crore IDBI loan fraud case.
The ED has registered a money laundering case against Mallya and others, based on an FIR registered last year by the CBI. The agency is also investigating the financial structure of the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines and is looking into any payment of kickbacks it made to secure the loan.
Mallya has been declared a wilful defaulter by two banks - SBI and PNB and had offered to settle the dues for Rs 6,000 crore. His airline Kingfisher, grounded in 2012, owes
Rs 9,000 crore (as on date including interest accrued) to 17 - banks including State Bank of India. Additionally, Mallya is also facing charges of financial irregularities and tax evasion. In his affidavit to the Supreme Court, Mallya has criticised the unseemly haste by the government in suspending his passport that created impediments in the ''whole process and endeavour.” He said he is ready to pay a token amount of Rs 1,591 crore to prove his bonafides. But didn''t disclose his current location or his plans to return to the country and face the law of the land.