Mallya’s benami assets now in ED’s line of fire

NEW DELHI: The enforcement directorate (ED) may begin hunting for liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s hidden properties to further tighten screws on the industrialist whose now-defunct airline owes thousands of crores to multiple lenders.

ED last week attached the largest-yet clutch of assets belonging to Mallya, who is said to have diverted the credits taken in the name of his Kingfisher Airlines to purchase properties abroad.

“Mallya may be owning much more (properties and assets) which are not directly in his name... that needs to be ascertained too and the authorities are expected to now focus on that,” a senior official at the State Bank of India told HT. The country’s biggest lender is co-ordinating with ED in its investigation against Mallya.

SBI is leading the 17-member consortium of lenders that gave loans to Kingfisher Airlines and has been has been pushing for more stringent action against Mallya, who is in the United Kingdom and has ignored multiple summons from courts in India. KFA owes about Rs 7,000 crore. “ED has been pursuing the recoveries under the prevention of Money Laundering Act since the funds were obtained from banks by resorting to a criminal activity of cheating,” Manoj Kumar, legal expert and managing partner Hammurabi and Solomon, added.