Banks get ₹792 cr more from Mallya

NEW DELHI: A group of lenders led by State Bank of India (SBI) has recovered ₹792 crore more in the Kingfisher Airlines case by selling shares handed over by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the financial investigation agency said in a statement.

The ED had said in June that around ₹800 crore was expected to be realized by this consortium in the case from the sale of shares in United Breweries Ltd attached by the agency. The lenders had earlier recovered ₹7,181.5 crore from liquidating assets and expect to make a total of ₹9,041.5 crore by selling assets attached by the ED under anti-money laundering provisions.

India’s Fugitive Economic Offenders Act provides for attachment of property of a fugitive economic offender and disentitlement of the offender from defending any civil claim. Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines, which was launched in 2005, could not survive the competition in the aviation industry, leading to its collapse in 2012.

The ED said assets worth ₹1,060 crore have been allowed to the banks by a Fugitive Economic Offence Court in the Punjab National Bank-nirav Modi case and that the investigating agency has confiscated ₹329.67 crore under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act. The ED said it has attached or seized assets worth ₹18,217.27 crore under the provisions of the antimoney laundering law and that banks and the government exchequer have realized 58% of the amount allegedly involved in the two cases.

News agency PTI said Mallya, who fled to the UK, is being probed by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation. The liquor baron has lost his case against extradition to India and as he has been denied permission to file an appeal in the UK Supreme Court, his extradition to India has become final, the ED had said. Mint could not immediately reach Mallya, Nirav Modi or their lawyers for comments.