JOIN USED to attach fresh assets of Mallya
Liquor baron Vijay Mallya is likely to face more trouble with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) mooting to issue a third order to attach his assets.
Official sources said the agency has initiated the process as they feel that Mallya is trying to evade the investigators by not returning to India.
The ED has already attached Mallya’s assets worth Rs 8,041 crore in two installments in June and September this year. Last Friday, Mallya had told a Delhi court that he wanted to return to India but revocation of his passport has forced him to stay in the United Kingdom.
Sources said the fresh attachment will be done under sections of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The previous two attachments were based on the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The ED had got a non-bailable warrant issued against Mallya from a Mumbai court. The ED had said that Mallya did not appear before its investigators despite multiple summons to depose in its money laundering probe in the bank loan fraud case worth over Rs 9,000 crore.
Assets and shares
Official sources said the ED has already prepared a document detailing his assets as well as shares in various companies. They said they would also update the existing request to Interpol for issuance of a global arrest warrant with fresh charges.
It will also add the fresh charges in its request under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between India and the UK.
Mallya had left India on March 2 as the consortium of banks was approaching the Supreme Court seeking strict action against him for defaulting loans.
Based on the FIR filed by the CBI, the ED also filed a case of money laundering.