A day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) requested the Delhi passport office to revoke Vijay Mallya’s passport, it was suspended on Friday on the agency’s recommendations. The ED sought to revoke Vijay Mallya’s passport as he did not turn up before it last week in a Rs 900 crore money laundering case.
Vijay Mallaya was summoned third time by the ED to appear before it and record his statement on April 9, but he failed to do so.
In an email, the businessman had requested the ED to exempt him from personal appearance till the end of May. He had cited his court cases and negotiations with the bank. However, ED had turned down his request.
The ED is also planning to reach out to the court to issue an arrest warrant against Vijay Mallya. A case of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Vijay Mallya and few other officials of Kingfisher Airlines has been registered by the ED. They allegedly fraudulently obtaining Rs 900 crore loan from IDBI bank.
A consortium of 17 banks, led by the State Bank of India, had recently reached out to the Supreme Court against Vijay Mallya, who owes more than Rs 9,000 crores to them.