ED seizes Rs 18,170 Crore assets of Mallya, Nirav Modi, Choksi; Transfers Rs 9,371 cr to banks

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized assets worth Rs 18,170 crore in cases related to fugitive businessmen Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. About half of the assets have been transferred to the banks and Centre.

The ED said that not only has the assets been seized, but a significant share, Rs 9,371.17 crore, has been transferred to the public sector banks and the central government.

The assets were seized under Prevention of Money Laundering Act. In a tweet, ED said that the amount attached/seized from the trio is 80% of the total losses to the banks.

The ED also said that it has unearthed a money trail of domestic and international transactions and storing of assets abroad.

The investigation revealed that the three accused used dummy entities controlled by them for rotation and drawing off the funds provided by the banks, it said.

The ED has booked the three on the basis of the FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Vijay Mallya, owner of now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, has been facing the ED probe after his company defaulted on bank loans. While the ED and the CBI were investigating the matter, Mallya left the country on March 2, 2016 — the day banks moved the Debt Recovery Tribunal against him.

In January 2019, he was declared a fugitive economic offender under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.
Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi, wanted in the Rs 13,500-crore Punjab National Bank loan fraud case, fled India in January 2018. Choksi, the owner of defunct jewellery giant Gitanjali Group, became a citizen of Antigua through a government-run scheme.