The State Bank of India (SBI) led a consortium of banks that has realized Rs 792.11 crore by selling shares Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, and Mehul Choksi businesses and properties handed over by the Enforcement Directorate (ED.
The ED in its statement has said that assets worth Rs 13,109.17 crore have been handed over to banks. ED has handed over assets of Rs 9,371.17 crore to banks and the government in the last month. Meanwhile, the ED has so far attached assets worth Rs 18,170.02 crore, which is around 80.45 percent of the total loss banks suffered due to these three people.
The ED has seized the assets under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)
Govt has given its nod and the agencies have been trying to recover money from the three elusive businessmen. The consortium of banks has declared Rs 9,000 crore of loans given to Vijay Mallya’s grounded Kingfisher Airlines as NPA (non-performing asset) in 2015, while the two diamond merchants Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi have forged nearly Rs 14,000 crore to Punjab National Bank (PNB).
Meanwhile, Vijay Mallya soon will be extradited to India since the liquor baron has lost his extradition case and been barred from filing an appeal in the UK Supreme Court. ED and CBI are investigating Mallya’s case for his alleged involvement in bank fraud linked to his defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
Investigating agencies are also looking into Nirav Modi and his maternal uncle Mehul Choksi wanted by Indian authorities in the PNB scam, where the duo has been accused of defrauding nearly Rs 14,000 crore of the bank. The fraud is said to be one of Indian banking history’s biggest scams.
Mallya, Modi, Mehul’s assets worth Rs 9,371 crore were transferred to public sector banks
Diamond merchant Nirav Modi, who was also fled to the UK, lost the first stage of his extradition case in the London High court last month. UK Home Secretary Priti Patel in the estimated USD 2-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case has ordered his extradition in April.
However, Mehul Choksi who was absconding since 2018 had dramatically gone missing from Barbuda and Antigua on May 23 but got apprehended in St. Dominica a few days later. Indian authorities are exploring the avenues of his extradition.
Vijay Mallya lost an appeal to gain further access to court-held funds
