ED to act fast after Vijay Mallya's UK arrest

Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is likely to file a chargesheet in the money-laundering case against alleged loan-defaulter Vijay Mallya. This has come following his arrest by the UK’s Scotland Yard on Tuesday. The ED would also send a dossier to the ministry of external affairs (MEA) ahead of the court proceedings to extradite the fugitive liquor baron.

A UK court had granted Mallya bail hours after his arrest on Tuesday. The authorities have already attached assets worth around Rs 9,750 crore during the course of investigation of Mallya defaulting on loan payments to several nationalised banks in India.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a chargesheet against Mallya in January and the ED will now follow suit to make a stronger extradition bid against Mallya. He is supposed to have escaped from India on March 2 last year.

“ED has attached assets worth around Rs 8,050 crores and the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court froze assets worth another Rs 1,700 crore and declared him a proclaimed offender,” said a senior ED officer.

These details along with the current status report of investigation in the case will be sent to the MEA for forwarding it to UK. The extradition process has already begun with Mallya’s arrest and the court process will begin soon where the weighing of evidence will be crucial, sources said.

The attachments include Mallya’s plush apartment located at Fort in south Mumbai, shareholding in his company along with a bungalow in Bangalore and a farmhouse in Mandwa near Alibaug.

The list also includes fix deposits in several banks that are in his name, a factory located at Chennai, a mall in Bangalore, and coffee plantations in Coorg.

ED’s investigation in the case also revealed that around Rs 3,500 crore from the loans were remitted outside India on pretext of payments of lease rentals/repair, maintenance etc. but they failed to provide proper lease agreements.