NEW DELHI: Business tycoon Vijay Mallya has sought time till early April for making a personal appearance before the Enforcement Directorate in the alleged money laundering case where he has defaulted over Rs 900 crore loan from IDBI bank.
Mallya made it clear that he would not present himself before the agency after summons was issued for him to appear in person. The CBI, which is probing the case, has found that Mallya has made 5 lakh transactions using the loan money and 60 per cent of them was transferred to foreign countries.
Sources said that Mallya has informed the investigating officer that he would not be able to keep the March 18 date and sought time till early April.
After hearing from Mallya, the CBI is now planning to reply to him on whether to grant his request or not. The agency has also written to the 17-bank consortium, led by SBI, which lent money to the grounded airline Kingfisher, and later went to the Debt Recovery Tribunal for recovering their dues. It has also sent official requests seeking details of the probe conducted by the Income Tax and Service Tax departments and the Serious Frauds Investigation Office against the airline in the past.
A senior CBI officer said that they have stated that its investigation into the liquor baron’s loans revealed that five lakh transactions were made by him.
“Shockingly, 60 per cent of these financial transactions involved Mallya sending money abroad from loans given to his airline,” the officer said.
The agency also said that they have also traced transactions of Rs 7,000 crore made by the business tycoon.
The agency is also probing why the airline, which lost its license in 2013 amid a mountain of debts and unpaid salaries to employees, could transfer money to foreign countries.
Kingfisher House Auction a no-show
Auction of Kingfisher House, once headquarters of Mallya’s defunct airline in Mumbai, was a flop show on Thursday with no bids coming in, presumably due to litigation fears.
Mallya Resigns as RCB director
Royal Challengers Bangalore, has written to the BCCI, intimating them about Vijay Mallya’s resignation from the post of Director of Royal Challengers Sports Pvt Ltd.