The money laundering case launched by the Enforcement Directorate(ED) in Mumbai against Mallya and others was in connection with the alleged default of over Rs 900 crore loan from IDBI bank based on an FIR registered last year by CBI in the same case, official sources said, adding Mallya and others will soon be questioned.
The tribunal ordered that the amount be attached till the disposal of the original application filed by State Bank of India in 2013 in connection with Kingfisher Airlines' loan default case.
In his order on the plea by the SBI application seeking the lenders' first right on the USD 75-million sweetheart deal, the judge also directed disclosure of details of the agreement which they have arrived at.
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SBI, which leads the consortium of 17 banks that lent money to the grounded Kingfisher Airlines, had moved DRT in Bengaluru against the airline's chairman Mallya in its bid to recover over Rs 7,000 crore of dues from him. The state-owned top lender had filed three other applications, including one seeking Mallya's arrest and impounding of his passport, which the judge had said on March 4 would be heard later.
Mallya had to quit recently as chairman of United Spirits - a company founded by his family in which he sold majority stake to Diageo.
They said while the ED's zonal office in Mumbai has registered the case, sleuths are also looking at the overall financial structure of Kingfisher airlines and a separate probe under foreign exchange violation charges could also be initiated.
"Mallya and others will soon be questioned. The agency has collected relevant documents from concerned authorities and the bank in question," they said.
The ED has pressed charges under various sections of the PMLA against Mallya and others named in the CBI complaint.