ED summons bank, airline officials in loan default case

Mumbai: Making its first move in the case, Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued summons to over half a dozen officials of the IDBI bank and Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher Airlines in connection with its money laundering probe in the alleged default of over Rs 900 crore loan from IDBI bank.

Officials said summons have been issued to former Chairman and Managing Director of the bank Yogesh Agarwal, the Chief Financial Officer of the now defunct airline A Raghunathan and other senior executive members and officials of both the organisations.

They said the summons have been been issued under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and all the individuals have been asked to submit details about their personal finances and Income Tax Returns (ITRs) of last five years to the investigators.

"The summons require them to join investigations in the next few days. The agency will record their statements," agency sources said.

The officials indicated that the agency will question some important functionaries of the bank and the airlines before they decide on issuing summons to the main player and liquor baron Vijay Mallya in the case.

The ED recently registered a money laundering case against Mallya and others based on a CBI FIR registered in 2015.

The agency is also investigating the overall financial structure of Kingfisher airlines and if any possible kick backs were made.

The ED has pressed charges under various sections of the PMLA against Mallya and others named in the CBI complaint.

The CBI had booked Mallya, director of Kingfisher Airlines, the company, Raghunathan and unknown officials of IDBI Bank in its FIR alleging that the loan was sanctioned in violation of norms regarding credit limits.

The CBI action came as part of its wide probe into criminal aspects of loans declared to be non-performing assets by public sector banks.

The ED is looking into the "proceeds of crime" that would have been generated using the slush funds of the alleged loan fraud and it is also probing if some of this amount was sent abroad illegally, they said.