A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Thursday partly accepted the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) application and declared beleaguered businessman Vijay Mallya a proclaimed offender and an absconding accused. The court also allowed ED to attach Mallya’s listed shares, but it rejected the ED’s prayer to attach his foreign properties because their title was not produced before the court.
The ED is investigating a case registered against Mallya under the PMLA and cases related to a Rs 900-crore loan from IDBI Bank. Mallya left the country in March this year, following which his passport was also cancelled.
Hiten Venegaonkar, the ED’s counsel on Thursday argued before special judge P.R. Bhavake that the agency had followed all the procedures prescribed under the law to inform an accused to appear before the investigating officers and personally join the investigation. He told the court that even the proclamation issued by the court was pasted in front of witnesses on Mallya’s addresses available with the agency but he never bothered to comply and it is a fit case to declare him a proclaimed offender.
Mr Venegaonkar further argued that after such an order is issued, the person has to appear before the court within a stipulated period, but Mallya did not do that, so the ED moved the court again to get him declared an absconder.
The agency had sought an order from the court under the Section 82 of the CrPC (proclamation of absconding person) to term Mallya a proclaimed offender as several arrest warrants were pending against him. The warrants were related to the cases including those under PMLA, and also for check-bouncing.
