ED moves special court to declare Vijay Mallya as fugitive offender

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Friday moved a special court to declare fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya as fugitive offender and confiscate his assets worth Rs 12,500 crore under new legislation.

ED has filed an application before a Mumbai court under the recently promulgated Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance that empowers it to confiscate all assets of an absconding loan defaulter.

As per the existing process of law under the PMLA, the ED can confiscate the assets only after the trial in a case finishes which usually takes many years.

A Mumbai special court on earlier this week had ordered arrest of Mallya for his alleged involvement in a case of money laundering and cheating a consortium of banks of over Rs 6,000 crore.

The court also issued summons to Mallya's firms, Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) and United Breweries Holdings Limited (UBHL), before adjourning the hearing in the case to July 30.

The ED has filed the charge sheet, also known as prosecution complaint, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, naming Mallya, his firms KFA and UBHL besides others.

The ED had last year filed its first charge sheet against Mallya, now in London, in the alleged Rs 900-crore IDBI Bank-Kingfisher Airlines loan fraud case.

The fresh charge sheet revolves around the complaint received from State Bank of India (SBI) on behalf of the consortium of banks for causing loss of Rs 6,027 crore to them by not keeping repayment commitments of the loans taken during 2005-10.

With PTI Inputs