ED to file fresh money laundering case against Vijay Mallya, KFA

Besides, ED to opt for Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty to extradite Vijay Mallya from UK

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is all set to file fresh case against Vijay Mallya, Kingfisher Airlines under anti-money laundering laws. It has sought case details from Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which had registered a first information report after receiving a complaint from the State bank of India-led 17 bank consortium.

This case is in addition to the case registered by enforcement sleuths in March for alleged default of Rs 950 crore loan from IDBI bank.  

Consortium of national banks in their complaint to CBI have alleged that banks have faced huge loss to the tune of over Rs 6,000 crore between year 2010 and 2015, as Mallya has deliberately did not repay loan taken for his now defunct Kingfisher Airlines. Mallya, his companies Kingfisher Airlines and United Breweries Holdings Limited have been named as accused in the CBI FIR.

SBI has an exposure of Rs 1,600 crore to the now defunct airline. Other banks that have exposure to the airline include Punjab National Bank and IDBI Bank (Rs 800 crore each), Bank of India (Rs 650 crore), Bank of Baroda (Rs 550 crore), Central Bank of India (Rs 410 crore). While UCO Bank has to recover Rs 320 crore among others.

According to sources, finance ministry had a meeting with banks and enforcement agencies to discuss the loan default by Mallya and the way forward. In the said meeting the ministry and agencies asked banks' consortium to file a complaint with police to fasten the recovery process.

Typically, under Prevention of money laundering Act (PMLA) rules, an enforcement probe agency could not probe case without police complaint. 

Besides, the enforcement agency has sent a request to Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for Mallya extradition through India-UK Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty ( MLAT), said an ED official.

India-UK MLAT treaty can be invoked in a criminal probe case that allow transfer of persons for the purpose of assisting in on-going probe and to get a person back to country. While without MLAT, invoking extradition would be difficult, as ED needs to first file a chargesheet and then make a request to send accused back.