ED summons former officials of KFA, IDBI

Four days after booking Kingfisher Airlines founder Vijay Mallya in a money-laundering case, the Enforcement Directorate served summons here on Thursday to KFA staffers and officials of the state-owned IDBI bank which he has defaulted of around Rs.900 crore.

Among the top bank officials issued summons are former chairman-cum-managing director Yogesh Aggarwal, chief financial officer A. Raghunathan of the now defunct KFA and other top executives.

Issued summons under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, these officials have been directed to provide details of their personal finances and ITRs of the past years, pointing to suspected cloudy dealings or kickbacks.

These would serve as a prelude to summoning the flamboyant former KFA boss and liquor baron Mallya, who is now said to be abroad even as cases against him pile up in different courts and agencies.

Last Monday (March 7), in a double whammy for the beleaguered Mallya, ED Mumbai lodged a case under PMLA while the Debt Recovery Tribunal in Bengaluru barred British alcoholic beverages giant Diageo from paying him a $75 million settlement till the pending case against him was disposed off.

Two days later on Wednesday, the Maharashtra Service Tax Department moved Bombay High Court to recover Service Tax dues worth several crores of rupees collected from the KFA passengers but not deposited with the department. The case is likely to be heard on Friday.