Enforcement Directorate (ED) today issued fresh summons to liquor baron Vijay Mallya to make a personal appearance before its investigating officer here on April 2 in connection with its money laundering probe in the over Rs 900 crore IDBI loan fraud case. The new summons came after the United Breweries (UB) group Chairman had yesterday sought more time from the agency to present himself on a later date instead of the scheduled time for today.
Official sources said the agency accepted his plea and gave Mallya the new date of April 2 to “join investigations in person.” The beleaguered businessman had informed the Investigating Officer (IO) of the case through email yesterday that he would not be able to keep the date of today even as he sought fresh time next month in this regard in a email communication. They said after “studying the reply and reasons” cited by Mallya, including a communication he said he made to some agencies earlier that he would be out of India in March, the agency issued the fresh date.
The fresh summons to Mallya have been issued under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and it requires him to furnish documents related to his personal investments and finances, Income Tax Returns for the last five years and Passport. ED Director Karnal Singh is camping here since yesterday to supervise the high profile probes being conducted by the agency including that of Mallya’s and the other related to former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, his family and others. The ED had recently registered a money laundering case against Mallya and others based on a CBI FIR registered last year. The agency is also investigating the overall financial structure of the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines and will look into any payment of kickbacks to secure loan.
