External affairs ministry suspends Vijay Mallya’s passport on the advice of ED

NEW DELHI: The external affairs ministry has suspended loans defaulter Vijay Mallya’s passport on the advice of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The ED had asked that the liquor baron’s passport be revoked for non-cooperation with investigators, after he failed to present himself before the agency that has summoned him three times.

Mallya was supposed to present himself before the ED’s investigators in Mumbai on Saturday in connection with a money laundering probe in the more than Rs 900 crore IDBI loan fraud case.

The ED has registered a money laundering case against Mallya and others, based on an FIR registered last year by the CBI. The agency is also investigating the financial structure of the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines and is looking into any payment of kickbacks it made to secure loan the loan.

Mallya was first summoned by the agency to “appear in person” at its office in Mumbai on March 18 but he sought more time citing his prior engagements, following which the agency asked him to depose on April 2.

It is understood that Mallya, while seeking the extensions, had informed the IO that cases related to bank loans were currently sub-judice in the Supreme Court and he was trying to settle these loans with the help of his legal and corporate team and would therefore require some more time.

Mallya, who is facing legal proceedings for alleged default of loans worth over Rs 9,000 crores from various banks, was last week directed by the Supreme Court to disclose by April 21 the total assets owned by him and his family in India and abroad.

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Source:TimesofIndia

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