Money laundering: ED seeks revocation of Vijay Mallya's passport

ED to issue Letter Rogatory to UK, South Africa to track Mallya's foreign assets

With businessman Vijay Mallya not complying with the enforcement directorate's (ED's) repeated summons, the probe agency on Wednesday wrote to the regional passport office in Delhi for revocation of the passport.

And, initiated the process for issuing a Letter Rogatory (LR) to South Africa and Britain for assistance in the case. A LR is a formal request from an Indian court to a foreign one for assistance.

“We are working on the LR content, which would be sent to the ministry of external affairs for clearance. It would be sent to respective countries to get details of Mallya’s foreign bank accounts, financial transactions, properties, etc,” said an ED source. The agency had earlier indicated it was examining legal options under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

It is learnt Mallya failed to appear at the ED on April 9, after seeking extensions from the earlier dates of March 18 and April 2. According to an official, Mallya informed the agency of his attempts to settle his bank loan dues and, therefore, requested a date in May to appear before it.

The Central Bureau of Investigation will be also sending a judicial request to at least five places — France, Britain, Hong Kong, America and Switzerland — in connection with an IDBI Bank loan default by Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines. It will seek information about alleged diversion of loans received by Mallya or any of his companies, according to a PTI report.

In another development, at the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) on Wednesday in Bengaluru, the counsel for spirits company Diageo said it had paid $40 million to Mallya immediately after an agreement signed with him in February. Another $35 mn was to be paid based on commitments from Mallya. A State Bank of India counsel asked the DRT to extend its March 7 order to Diageo to deposit the $75 mn. And, asked the service tax department to deposit the money raised from auctioning Mallya’s jet plane with the DRT. The court adjourned the hearing to April 21.

Last week, a consortium of banks rejected a Mallya offer to repay Rs 4,000 crore of the Rs 9,000 crore he owes them. The Supreme Court has asked Mallya to file his reply by April 21, indicating how much he can deposit in the court, as well as a full list of assets his family and he owns in India and abroad. The next hearing is scheduled for April 26.

Mallya has been summoned in connection with a money laundering probe in the Rs 6,963-crore bank loan default case.