Mallya gets a step closer to being declared fugitive economic offender
A special court in Mumbai has ordered the arrest of fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya for his alleged involvement in a case of money laundering and cheating a consortium of banks of over Rs 6,000 crore.
Special Judge M S Azmi of anti-money laundering court issued a non-bailable warrant for Mallya's arrest, taking cognisance of a fresh chargesheet filed against him and others by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The
court
also
issued
summons
to
Mallya's
firms,
Kingfisher
Airlines
(KFA)
and
United
Breweries
Holdings
Limited
(UBHL),
before
adjourning
the
hearing
in
the
case
to
July
30.
The
agency
has
filed
the
chargesheet,
also
known
as
prosecution
complaint,
under
the
Prevention
of
Money
Laundering
Act,
naming
Mallya,
his
firms
KFA
and
UBHL
besides
others.
The ED had in 2017 filed its first chargesheet against Mallya, now in London, in the alleged Rs 900-crore IDBI Bank-Kingfisher Airlines loan fraud case.
The fresh chargesheet revolves around the complaint received from State Bank of India (SBI) on behalf of the consortium of banks for causing loss of Rs 6,027 crore to them by not keeping repayment commitments of the loans taken during 2005-10.