Kingfisher PMLA case: ED questions IDBI officials

Enforcement Directorate (ED) has questioned IDBI bank officials, including its former CMD, in connection with its money laundering probe in the over Rs 900 crore alleged loan fraud involving the bank and Kingfisher Airlines.
Officials said while they have had a "preliminary" questioning of former CMD of the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) bank Yogesh Agarwal, two other executives of the bank have also been recently questioned and their statements recorded under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The executives have submitted official documents and files processed by the bank to grant the Rs 900 crore loan to the airline which are being studied, the ED officials said.

Agarwal, they said, has been summoned to appear for detailed questioning this week at its office here.
ED investigators, they said, are trying to create the chain of circumstances that led to the bank lending Rs 900 crore loan to the now defunct airline.
IDBI is part of the 17 bank consortium which lent money to the grounded Kingfisher Airlines and later went to the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) for recovery of these dues.

The agency has already written to these banks to provide them factual details of the case and the plea prepared by each of them with which they have approached DRT.

ED has also questioned former Chief Financial Officer of the airlines A Raghunathan and has summoned the owner and Chairman of United Breweries (UB) Group Vijay Mallya to appear before it on April 2. It has also questioned former UB group Chief Financial Officer Ravi Nedungadi along with a few other accused in the case.
The ED had recently registered a money laundering case against Mallya and others based on a CBI FIR registered last year. The agency is also investigating the overall financial structure of the airlines and will look into any payment of kickbacks to secure loans.
The ED is looking into the "proceeds of crime" that could have been generated using the slush funds of the alleged loan fraud. It is also probing if some of this amount was sent abroad illegally.

Besides, the agency is looking for details of overseas and domestic assets of Mallya and his company officials in coordination with central security agencies and the CBI.