Next hearing in businessman Vijay Mallya's extradition case will be on July 6 in a UK court
The Enforcement Directorate, in its latest chargesheet filed against Vijay Mallya, has alleged that the businessman floated 20 shell companies, directors of which were either his personal staff or retired employees. The ED made these claims in its recent chargesheet filed regarding the default of a IDBI Bank's loan worth 900 crores by Mr Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines.
"Mallya was holding directly or indirectly movable and immovable assets, in the form of shares of public listed companies, by way of creating a web of shell companies. The assets were being in shell/dummy companies created by Mallya," the ED said in its charge sheet filed in Mumbai yesterday.
The over 5,000 page chargesheet, with 57 pages of the main report and rest annexures, has been filed before a special PMLA court in Mumbai. The chargesheet said Mr Mallya had "formed a complex web structure of his group companies so as to indirectly control their affairs."
"He has nominated directors in those companies who were either his personal staff, retired company official or a third person," it said. The agency identified the alleged shell firms as M/s PE Data Centre Resources Private Limited, M/s Pharma Trading Limited, M/s Kingfisher Finvest Limited, Devi Investment Private Limited, M/s Mallya Investment Private Limited, M/s Explicit Consultancy Private Limited, M/s Ambitious Computech Private Limited and Vilora Consultancy Private Limited among others.
The central investigation agency, meanwhile, is set to confiscate a coffee estate in Coorg in Karnataka and other assets in Bengaluru which it had attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), as it did with a Rs 100 crore farm house in Maharashtra's Alibaug recently.
The Enforcement Directorate had registered a criminal case in this deal last year and has attached assets worth over Rs 9,600 crore till now.
The ED added "there were unencumbered (free of debt) properties more than Rs 1,760.03 crore in addition to the properties mentioned in the personal guarantee submitted by Mallya to the IDBI bank", indicating that these assets were not pledged as collaterals towards security of the bank loan.
Describing how Mr Mallya allegedly siphoned off funds in the IDBI Bank case, the agency said, "It is suspected that major portion out of amount of Rs 417.29 crore was remitted out of India to overseas parties from IDBI bank."
It mentioned a transaction made to a firm which allegedly had fake or dummy directors.
"An amount of Rs 63.10 crore (approximately) was paid to M/s UBICS Technologies Pvt Ltd (controlled by Mallya). Directors are dummy directors acting on behalf of Mallya.
"This company was used as a special purpose vehicle to route the funds of M/s KFA as no other transaction from any other company has been noticed in this," it said.
A total of 9 accused have been named in the chargesheet by the ED, including Mr Mallya, Kingfisher Airlines (KFA), United Breweries (Holding) Limited and senior employees and executives of the now-defunct airline and the IDBI.
The agency, in the charge sheet, has described Mr Mallya as the "prime mover of the entire plot" and has described how funds obtained from the bank loan were allegedly routed illegally including "substantial payments" being diverted by the businessman to the Formula One car racing event abroad and others.