NEW DELHI: The CBI on Saturday filed a fresh case against liquor baron Vijay Mallya for irregularities in repayment of Rs 1,600 crore loan taken from State Bank of India. The agency filed the FIR under 420 (charges of cheating) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The agency alleged that Mallya had cheated a consortium of nationalised banks to the tune of Rs 6,027 crore by not keeping commitments to repay loans taken for his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
The fresh case has been registered on the basis of a complaint filed by SBI on behalf of the consortium of banks for causing a loss of Rs 6,027 crore to them by not keeping repayment commitments of his loan taken during 2005-2010.
A CBI officer said that Mallya’s companies — Kingfisher Airlines and United Breweries Holdings Limited — have also been named as accused in the FIR.
Last year, the CBI had registered a case against Mallya, some of his top employees, Kingfisher Airlines and some IDBI Bank officials for allegedly violating norms while disbursing 900-crore loan from IDBI bank to the airline.
In the present case, the agency alleged that SBI and its consortium banks had advanced various credit facilities to Kingfisher Airlines Limited during the period between 2005 and 2010.
During 2009-10, the company had failed to meet its repayment commitments to the banks.
The consortium of banks, therefore, had recalled the credit facilities and invoked corporate guarantee of UBHL and personal guarantee of Mallya.
Mallya did not repay the outstanding dues payable by Kingfisher Airlines to the consortium of banks deliberately, the complaint alleged.
SBI had given Rs 1,600 crore to the airline as loan. Out of this, the bank, which recalled the loan in February 2013, could recover only around Rs 1,100 crore after selling pledged shares of UB Group companies.
Other banks that have exposure to the airline include Punjab National Bank and IDBI Bank (Rs 800 crore each), Bank of India (Rs 650 crore), Bank of Baroda (Rs 550 crore), Central Bank of India (Rs 410 crore).
UCO Bank has to recover Rs 320 crore, Corporation Bank (Rs 310 crore), State Bank of Mysore (Rs 150 crore), Indian Overseas Bank (Rs 140 crore), Federal Bank (Rs 90 crore), Punjab and Sind Bank (Rs 60 crore) and Axis Bank (Rs 50 crore).