Apart from A Raghunathan, summons have also been issued to former CMD of IDBI, Yogesh Agarwal and other senior members of both the organisations.
Former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of long-grounded carrier Kingfisher Airlines (KFA), A Raghunathan today appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning in connection with its money laundering probe in the alleged default of over Rs 900 crore loan from IDBI bank.
The ED had issued summons to over half a dozen officials of the IDBI bank and
Vijay Mallya-owned KFA under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) wherein 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.
"We had summoned Raghunathan and he appeared before us for questioning this morning," said an ED official. "His questioning is important to throw light on various financial transactions, as many of them are in his personal domain," he said.
According to the official, in his statement to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO)--recorded last month--, Mr Raghunathan has blamed
Vijay Mallya (for the financial crisis that befell KFA) and said he worked as per the directions from the latter.
Apart from Mr Raghunathan, summons have also been issued to former Chairman and Managing Director of the bank, Yogesh Agarwal and other senior executive members and officials of both the organisations.
Yesterday, officials had 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 Mr Mallya in the case.
The ED recently registered a money laundering case against Mr Mallya and others based on a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) First Information Report (FIR) registered last year. The agency is also investigating the overall financial structure of Kingfisher Airlines and if any possible kickbacks were made.
The ED has pressed charges under various sections of the PMLA against Mr Mallya and others named in the CBI complaint. The CBI had booked Mr 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 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.
The Attorney General had yesterday informed the Supreme Court that Mr Mallya has left the country a week ago.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)