NEW DELHI: Vijay Mallya managed to get a Rs 900-crore loan from IDBI Bank allegedly with the help of top officials, who had ignored warnings by some of the bank’s own officials, who had hastily cleared the massive amount in just a month. Strangely, a part of the loan received from the bank was also sent abroad, the CBI has said. The FIR registered against Mallya and others, accessed by Express, shows that IDBI Bank had granted the loan despite Kingfisher Airlines (KfA) being in acute financial distress in 2009. It also states that Mallya was given the loan after he met with IDBI CMD Yogesh Aggarwal, and that their meeting was referred to by the bank in various documents. During preliminary enquiry, the agency found that CFO A Raghunanthan of KfA sent a proposal for corporate loans of Rs 950 crore on October 1, 2009, to executive director of the bank B K Batra.
Mallya had met Aggarwal requesting him to grant a corporate loan on October 6, 2009, to get a loan of Rs 900 crore.
“While the proposal was pending, Raghunanthan had on October 7, 2009, referring to the meeting between Vijay Mallya and CMD of the bank Yogesh Aggarwal, requested the bank to release a short-term loan of Rs 150 crore for a period of six months to meet certain obligations to oversee vendors,” the CBI said in its FIR registered on July 29 last year.
It further said a memorandum was presented to the Credit Committee and the facility was sanctioned, though the company was facing negative financials and a negative net-worth and the borrower being a new client did not satisfy the and norms stipulated in the bank’s corporate loan policy.
Again on November 4, 2009, Raghunanthan gave a reference of the meeting held between Mallya and Aggarwal and sought an ad hoc release of Rs 200 crore pending sanction of the proposal for corporate loan of Rs 950 crore to meet critical obligations to oversee vendors. “The said proposal was put before executive director of the bank B K Batra who recommended that the CMD may approve the proposal and confirmation of the CMD’s action in releasing the facilities would be sought in the next Executive Council meeting,” the CBI said.
The agency added that the CMD approved the proposal while instructing expediting the ratings; though the memorandum mentions that the auditors of the company observed that funds aggregating to Rs 4,630 crore raised on short-term basis were used for long-term purposes, undisputed TDS amount of Rs 111 crore was not deposited for over six months and the rating was not available.
The agency further pointed out that a part of the loan was for foreign remittance towards lease rentals, purchase of aircraft parts etc. “Since these remittances have gone outside the country, further inquiry can be made only by sending Letters Rogatory for foreign investigation,” the agency stated in the FIR.
Further, Rs 3.45 crore was paid into the bank account of the company in London. “Again further probe into the matter is required,” the agency added.
While the CBI was probing the case for the last two years, the Enforcement Directorate registered a money laundering case against Mallya in the same issue. The agency booked him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act based on CBI case.