NEW DELHI: The Centre on Wednesday informed the Supreme Court that Rs 18,000 crore have been returned to the banks in the case of fugitive business tycoons - Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.
While Mallya, the liquor baron and promoter of defunct Kingfisher Airline, who owes over Rs 9,000 crore to a consortium of banks in principal and interest left India in March 2016, diamond merchant Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, who are wanted in India for their alleged role in one of India’s largest bank fraud, totalling some Rs 14,000 crore, had left India in early 2018
The Centre also informed the Supreme Court on Wednesday that 4,700 cases are being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as on date, and only 313 people have been arrested for the alleged offences since the enactment of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in 2002.
The total amount covered by interim orders of no coercive action passed by the courts in such matters is around Rs 67,000 crore, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar.
The apex court is dealing with a batch of petitions concerning the interpretation of certain provisions of the PMLA. Some of the petitioners had argued that there cannot be "mechanical lodging" of an enforcement case information report (ECIR) as the PMLA requires that there must be some indication of the act of money laundering and projecting the proceeds of crime as untainted.