In what comes as a huge relief for the banks, the PMLA court has given them permission to sell certain real estate properties and securities belonging to fugitive tycoon Vijay Mallya to recover dues loan amount of over Rs 5,600 crore. It was earlier under Enforcement Directorate (ED), said Mallikarjuna Rao, Managing Director, Punjab National Bank, ANI said.
"Now the lead bank will sell those properties. PNB does not have much loan exposure in Kingfisher, but we will get our due share whatever once lead bank to realize," added Rao.
What this means is that a consortium of 17 banks that gave Mallya loans, led by State Bank of India, can now sell his properties that were seized by the ED.
Mallya is accused in a bank loan default case of over Rs 9,000 crore involving his defunct Kingfisher Airlines and is presently in the United Kingdom.
Where is cheating or fraud, tweets Mallya
On Friday, Mallya tweeted: “Have been watching TV and the repeated mention of my name as a cheat and fraudster. Does nobody consider that my assets far in excess of Kingfisher Airline borrowings have been attached by ED and the several of my settlement offers to repay 100% ? Where is the cheating or fraud?"
On Tuesday, a special PMLA court in Mumbai allowed the restoration of properties of Mallya that were seized by the ED to a consortium of banks which had provided him loans.
This was the second such order passed by Special Judge JC Jagadale in over a week, PTI said. The properties as described in the application are hereby restored to the applicant banks through the recovery officer, the court said.
The combined value of property to be restored to banks runs into several crore rupees, a lawyer representing Mallya said.
The court rejected Mallya's application seeking a stay on the order.
(With IANS, PTI inputs)
