The Enforcement Directorate -ED has filed a fresh charge sheet against liquor baron Vijay Mallya, and others for allegedly cheating a consortium of nationalized banks to the tune of over Rs 6,000 crore.
The charge sheet was filed under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and is based on the complaint by SBI on behalf of the consortium of banks accusing Mallya of not repaying loans taken during 2005-10.
The voluminous charge sheet filed in Mumbai’s special court on Monday names Vijay Mallya, Kingfisher Airlines, United Breweries
Holdings Limited and others. Last year, the ED had filed its first charge sheet in the alleged Rs.900-crore IDBI Bank-Kingfisher Airlines loan fraud case. It has attached assets worth Rs. 9,890 crore in this case till now.
The central probe agency would immediately seek permission from a court to "confiscate" assets worth more than Rs 9,000 crore belonging to the businessman and his firms under the recently promulgated Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance. This is likely to pave the way for him to be declared "fugitive" under a new Indian law.