ED summons Mallya, questions sr executive in IDBI fraud case

Mumbai, March 11: The Enforcement Directorate(ED) Friday, March 11 issued summons for appearance to liquor baron Vijay Mallya besides questioning a senior executive of Kingfisher airlines as part of its money laundering probe in the alleged default in payment of Rs 900 crore dues to IDBI bank. Official sources said Mallya has been summoned to appear before investigators of the ED here on March 18.

"The summons have been issued to Mallya under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in connection with the IDBI case," they said.

The sources said Mallya has also been asked to furnish documents related to his personal finances. The summons were issued on a day when A Raghunathan, a former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the grounded Kingfisher Airlines, appeared before ED investigators at its office in the Ballard Pier area here.

"We had summoned Raghunathan and he appeared before us for questioning this morning. "His questioning is important to throw light on various financial transactions, as many of them are in his personal domain," said an ED official.

The ED had issued summons to over half a dozen officials of the IDBI bank and Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher Airlines(KFA) under provisions of the PMLA wherein all the individuals have been asked to submit details about their personal finances and Income Tax Returns (ITRs) of last five years to the investigators.

According to the official, in his statement to the SFIO--recorded last month--, Raghunathan has put the blame on Mallya for the financial crisis that felled KFA and said he worked as per the directions from the latter.

Apart from Raghunathan, summons have also been issued to former Chairman and Managing Director of the bank, Yogesh Agarwal and other senior executive members and officials of both the organisations.

PTI