Queency Jain –
After the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Court lifted the claim of the Enforcement Directorate on the assets, a consortium of banks, led by State Bank of India (SBI), can now move to recover dues loan amount of over Rs 5,600 Cr by selling the real estate properties and securities of the disgraced business tycoon Vijay Mallya.
Mallya is accused in a bank loan default case of over Rs 9,000 Cr involving his defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
The decision of the Court comes after the lenders, led by SBI, sought to restore Mallya’s properties attached by the investigation agency under the provisions of PMLA.
The Court had also instructed banks to execute a bond undertaking to return to properties of Mallya, in case he is acquitted or the trial did not get complete.
The Court observed that Mallya had himself placed a proposal to repay the due amounts of the banks which led to the suspicion that why was the businessman ready to pay the amount or clear the dues if he had not caused any loss to the applicant banks.
Though the Mallya’s legal team argued that Mallya is not connected with money laundering in any way as the boss of Kingfisher airlines has given a personal guarantee, the Court held that there was falsification of accounts of Kingfisher Airlines on which Mallya has full control and command of.