The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is preparing to sell assets of Vijay Mallya, the fugitive billionaire, and recover Rs 10,000 crore, said people familiar with the development.
Sources tell CNBC-TV18, that ED has started the paperwork and will approach the Prevention of Money-laundering Act (PMLA) court to seek permission to sell his assets.
These assets include shares of United Breweries held by Mallya and other properties attached by ED, which are owned by him.
ED believes that Mallya still holds 15% stake in UB Group companies, which are not pledged. The current value of the stake will come at around Rs 4,500 crore.
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ED believes that Mallya’s properties worth Rs 5,000 crore will be up for sale.
Mallya’s 17 acre farmhouse in Alibag, Maharashtra, and multiple flats in the premium Kingfisher Towers are also with the ED.
Apart from this, four buildings in Bengaluru’s UB City will be on the block as well.
Earlier, Mallya, undergoing an extradition trial in a UK court over fraud and money laundering charges by Indian authorities, lost a lawsuit filed by the Indian banks in the UK High Court seeking to collect from him more than $1.55 billion.
Judge Andrew Henshaw refused to overturn a worldwide order freezing Mallya's assets and upheld an Indian courts ruling that a consortium of 13 Indian banks were entitled to recover funds amounting to nearly $1.55 billion.
The victory for the banks will enable them to enforce the Indian judgment against Mallya's assets in England and Wales.
The worldwide freezing order prevents him from removing any assets from England and Wales up to that value or to in any way dispose of, deal with or diminish the value of his assets in or outside of this jurisdiction, up to the same value.
The 61-year-old businessman, who has been in self-imposed exile in the UK since March 2016, when he left India, is wanted in India on charges relating to his defunct Kingfisher Airlines defaulting on loans from various Indian banks amounting to Rs 9,000 crore.
This will be the first time after the Fugitive Offenders Bill has been passed by the government that ED will go ahead with sale of assets.
This hearing will be also important with regards that it will set the precedent in various other cases of fugitive offenders such as Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.
First Published:May 21, 2018 5:39 PM IST
