ED files fresh charge sheet against Mallya, prepares for fugitive tag

The agency has filed the charge sheet, also known as prosecution complaint, before a special court here under the provisions of PMLA

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday filed a fresh charge sheet against embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya, two companies linked to him and others on charges of money laundering for allegedly cheating a consortium of nationalised banks to the tune of over Rs 60 billion, officials said.

The agency has filed the charge sheet, also known as prosecution complaint, before a special court here under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

It has named Mallya, Kingfisher Airlines (KFA), UBHL (United Breweries Holdings Limited) and others in the voluminous charge sheet, they said.

PTI was first to report yesterday that after this charge sheet, the central probe agency would immediately seek permission from a court to "confiscate" assets worth more than Rs 90 billion of the beleaguered businessman and his firms under the recently promulgated Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance.

The ED had last year filed its first charge sheet against Mallya, now in London, in the alleged Rs 9-billion IDBI Bank-Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) loan fraud case.

It has attached assets worth Rs 98.90 billion in this case till now.

The fresh charge sheet revolves around the complaint received from State Bank of India (SBI) on behalf of the consortium of banks for causing loss of Rs 60.27 billion to them by not keeping repayment commitments of the loans taken during 2005-10, they said.

The ED has based its investigation in this instance after taking cognisance of a CBI FIR.