Mumbai/New Delhi/Bengaluru: In a double blow to beleaguered business tycoon Vijay Mallya Monday, the Enforcement Directorate in Mumbai lodged a money laundering case and the Debt Recovery Tribunal in Bangalore barred British alcoholic beverages giant Diageo from paying him $75 million till a case against him was disposed of.
The tribunal barred Diageo plc from paying `5.04 billion ($75 million) as a severance package to Mallya who quit the chairmanship of its Indian company, United Spirits Ltd last month, till the pending case against the liquor baron before it is decided. “The presiding officer of DRT (R Benkanahalli) ordered temporary attachment of the severance package amount and directed Diageo not to pay it till our case is finally heard and disposed of,” a counsel for State Bank of India told media.
In another major stumbling block for Mallya, the ED Monday registered a money-laundering case against founder of now defunct Kingfisher Airlines, officials said. “We have filed a case against Mallya Monday. The case is specifically based on the case registered by the CBI against him and others in 2015,” assistant director (Enforcement Directorate) AK Rawal said in New Delhi.
Mallya and the top executives of the erstwhile KFA have been booked under Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Rawal said. The measure follows an audit of `7,200 crore loan that a consortium of 11 public sector banks led by SBI had extended to the airline which it failed to repay.
The KFA is alleged to have diverted as much as `4,000 crore of that money to international tax havens like Mauritius and Cayman Islands, which is being probed by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Other businesses of Mallya were also being scrutinised by the ED under the PMLA, an official, requesting anonymity, said
in Mumbai.
Last week, CBI director Anil Sinha had expressed dismay in Mumbai over the laxity of the lending banks and regulatory agencies in taking action against Mallya, other KFA directors and officials concerned. It is feared that Mallya might become a fugitive from law by shifting base to a country where it might be difficult to make him face Indian law, officials said.
The flamboyant businessman, who recently announced his plans to spend more time with his family in Britain, refuted all charges against him and took exception to being labelled as a “wilful defaulter” by some of the lender banks.
Mallya has also denied he was planning to flee the country and said he was ready to cooperate with the lenders and the agencies to settle the debt. Agencies