PMLA court seeks Mallya's reply to ED's fugitive offender plea

A special court on Monday gave Vijay Mallya three weeks time to reply to an ED plea seeking that he be declared a fugitive under the newly-introduced Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.

Special PMLA judge M S Azmi directed the beleaguered liquor baron, through his counsel, to file his reply on September 24 in response to the application by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The ED has charged Mallya under the new law in connection with a Rs 9,000 crore alleged bank fraud case and has sought immediate confiscation of assets worth about Rs 12,500 crore belonging to him.

The PMLA court had, earlier, issued non-bailable warrants against the businessman in two cases filed by the ED.

According to the new law, a fugitive economic offender is any individual against whom warrants for arrest is issued for his involvement in select economic offences involving amount of at least Rs 100 crore or more and has left India so as to avoid criminal prosecution.

The Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 got the nod from the President in August this year.