A Delhi court today fixed April 24 for hearing the final arguments in a case against liquor baron Vijay Mallya for allegedly evading summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with alleged violation of foreign exchange rules.
The matter came up for hearing before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Sumit Dass, who posted it for next month.
The ED had alleged that Mallya had violated the provisions of Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) in arranging funds to advertise his company's liquor products abroad.
ED had claimed that Mallya was summoned on four occasions for questioning in connection with a contract signed in December 1995 with London-based firm Benetton Formula Ltd for promotion of the Kingfisher brand abroad.
When Mallya failed to appear before ED in response to the summons, a complaint was filed on March 8, 2000 before a court here and later on charge was framed against him under section 56 of FERA.
According to ED, Mallya had allegedly paid 200,000 dollars to the British firm for displaying Kingfisher logo in Formula One World Championships in London and some European countries in 1996, 1997 and 1998.
The agency had claimed that the money was allegedly paid without prior approval from RBI in violation of FERA norms.
(Reopens LGD9)
Meanwhile, sources in the ED said Mallya or any other person whose passport has been revoked pending criminal investigations can approach the Indian High Commission or Embassy in the country they are in, and get an "emergency or alternative travel document" issued in order to travel back to India.
"The provision is stipulated under Section 4 (2)(a) of the Passport Act which talks about issuance of an emergency certificate authorising a person to enter India. Mallya can well use this legal provision to come back to India and join the probe. He is wanted in a criminal probe of money laundering by the ED apart from one under the now repealed Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA)," they said.
