Vijay Mallya, now in Britain, is charged with siphoning off a portion of money involving IDBI loan of Rs 950 crore, which he had borrowed for Kingfisher Airlines.
Liquor Baron and lawmaker Vijay Mallya diverted Rs 430 crore for purchase of a property abroad from the Rs 950 crore IDBI loan for his Kingfisher Airlines, the Enforcement Directorate alleged today before a special court.
The Special Court today reserved its order till April 18 on the agency's plea for a Non-Bailable Warrant against the embattled businessman.
The order on the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) plea for a Non-Bailable Warrant (NBW) in the money laundering case involving Mr Mallya's alleged defrauding of the IDBI was reserved by special Judge PR Bhavake who hears cases filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act(PMLA).
Mr Mallya, now in Britain, is charged with siphoning off a portion of money involving IDBI loan of Rs 950 crore, which he had borrowed for Kingfisher Airlines.
"We have stumbled upon the money trail and found that of the money he borrowed (Rs 950 crore), a portion (Rs 430 crore) had been used to buy a property outside India. He wants to avoid probe and therefore Non Bailable Warrant may be issued to compel his presence by bringing him from UK," ED Counsel Hiten Venegaonkar told the court.
IDBI'S money was thus used for some purpose other than the one for which the loan had been given, he said.
Mr Venegaonkar said three summons had been issued by the PMLA court against Mr Mallya this year on March 10, March 18 and April 2 asking him to appear in the case. However, Mr Mallya replied in e-mails to the ED that he cannot appear because of his commitments in Europe and also because he was busy trying to arrange money to pay off his debts by a one-time arrangement.
In all these e-mails, Mr Mallya sought time to appear and he was delaying the progress of investigations by not coming before the ED, the agency's lawyer told the court while justifying issuance of a Non Bailable Warrant against him.
The ED counsel argued that even in FERA cases, the Supreme Court had observed that Mr Mallya was using evasive tactics by not appearing before the investigating agency.
He further cited Supreme Court judgments to point out that only the investigating agency can decide how, when, where and on which day an accused or suspect should appear for the probe. Therefore, Mr Mallya's submission that he was cooperating and would himself decide when to appear before the ED was a baseless argument and was intended to delay probe.
The court was hearing an application moved by the ED which is probing money laundering charges against the flamboyant 60-year-old liquor baron and seeking NBW against him.
Kingfisher Airlines has allegedly defaulted on loans of over Rs 9,400 crore obtained from various banks and Mr Mallya has left India for Britain where he is staying with his family.
The Union Government had yesterday suspended Mr Mallya's diplomatic passport and even threatened to revoke it if he does not come to India and cooperate with the investigations.