Vijay Mallya Gets Second Of A Possible 3 Orders To Appear In Mumbai

New Delhi: Vijay Mallya, whose Kingfisher Airlines owes nearly a billion dollars to some of India's biggest banks, has been allowed another two weeks to return to India for interrogation in a money-laundering case.

Mr Mallya has been issued the second of three possible orders or summons to meet in Mumbai with officers of the Enforcement Directorate, which tackles financial crimes.

The agency has the right to ask for an arrest warrant if the person it's trying to question ignores three summons. A court then decides whether to grant permission for the arrest.

In Mr Mallya's case, that is considerably more complicated because earlier this month, he flew out to London from Delhi, just as a group of 17 banks asked the Supreme Court to ban the liquor baron from leaving the country as they struggle to recover their loans. The 60-year-old, spotted in the UK village where he owns a luxury mansion with two swimming pools, has tweeted that he is not absconding. However, he informed officials yesterday that he would not fly to Mumbai to meet them today, as ordered, to discuss a 900-crore loan which he is accused of funneling abroad.

Mr Mallya's easy departure from India has commanded national attention, with the opposition Congress accusing the government of "criminal conspiracy" with the flashy, pony-tailed businessman, and the government retaliating that it was on the Congress' watch that one state-run bank after another endowed Mr Mallya with sizeable loans despite the obvious financial distress of Kingfisher Airlines.

Advertisement

Mr Mallya launched the airline in 2002, declaring he was introducing India to luxury travel. The airline was grounded in 2013, surrounded by mind-boggling debt and unpaid wages to its employees.