Delhi. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced yesterday that the ED has recovered Rs 22 thousand crore in different cases related to fraud. This includes recovery of Rs 14,131 crore from fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya. After the announcement of the Finance Minister, the former head of Kingfisher Airlines has targeted the agency. In a post on X, Mallya said, “The Debt Recovery Tribunal estimated the loan of KFA (Kingfisher Airlines) to be Rs 6,203 crore, which also includes interest of Rs 1,200 crore. The Finance Minister announced in Parliament that through ED, banks recovered Rs 14,131 crore against Rs 6,203 crore, and I am still an economic offender.” Vijay Mallya said, “Unless the ED and the bank can legally prove how they have recovered more than double the loan, I am entitled to relief, which I will try for.” According to the report of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), several cases were registered against Mallya in 2015 and 2016. It was alleged that a criminal conspiracy was hatched by him to defraud the bank-led consortium by obtaining loans. This amount was siphoned off to India and abroad using shell companies.
The ED identified crime proceeds worth Rs 11,290 crore (€1.25 billion), of which Rs 5,040 crore (€560.3 million) was seized through provisional attachment orders in 2016. The same year, Mallya was declared a criminal for absconding from India. Assets worth Rs 1,690 crore (€188 million) were also seized under Section 83 of the CrPC, without any direct criminal link being established.
Between 2016 and 2020, the ED issued 21 Egmont requests and letters rogatory (judicial requests for foreign assistance) to eight countries. These efforts led to the seizure of various assets, including assets worth €1.6 million in France and other properties in India and abroad.
