Enforcement Directorate Saturday attached assets worth Rs 1,411 crore of bank loan defaulter and liquor businessman Vijay Mallya and his companies in connection with its money laundering probe in the the alleged IDBI bank loan default case.
The agency, in a statement, said the order was issued as investigation found that some of the properties were being disposed off by the accused so that further action undertaken by the agency under PMLA can be frustrated.
Vijay Mallya was known for his flamboyant lifestyle.
As per reports, the assets brought under the provisional attachment order of the directorate include bank balance of Rs 34 crore, a flat each in Bengaluru and Mumbai (2,291 sqft and 1,300 sqft respectively), an industrial plot in Chennai (4.5 acres), a coffee plantation land in Coorg (28.75 acres) and residential and commercial constructed areas in UB city and Kingfisher Tower in Bengaluru (84,0279 sqft).
An attachment of assets under PMLA is aimed to deprive the accused from obtaining benefits of their ill-gotten wealth. The accused can appeal against this action before the Adjudicating Authority of PMLA within 180 days.
ED further said that a corporate loan was sanctioned and disbursed “despite weak financials, negative net-worth, low credit rating of the borrower company and despite the fact that the company Ms Kingfishers Airlines Limited (KFA) being a new client did not satisfy the norms stipulated in the corporate loan policy of the bank” and was sanctioned in an “extraordinary haste.”
