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The Enforcement Directorate on June 23 said that it has transferred a part of the attached or seized assets in cases related to fugitive billionaires Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, to state-run banks and the Centre.

Of the Rs 18,170.02 crore worth of assets seized/attached, the ED said that it has transferred Rs 9,371.17 crore to the government and public sector banks (PSBs).

“ED not only attached/seized assets worth of Rs 18170 crore (80.45% of total loss to banks) in case of Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi under the PMLA but has also transferred a part of attached/seized assets of Rs 9371.17 crore to the PSBs and Central Government”, ED said in its tweet. 

Vijay Mallya, the owner of now defunct Kingfisher Airlines was declared a fugitive economic offender under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act in 2019. He has been facing a probe by ED after his company made bank loans. The day banks moved the Debt Recovery Tribunal against him on March 2, 2016, Mallya left the country while the ED and the CBI were investigating the matter. 

Mallya’s extradition is almost final since he has been denied permission to file an appeal in the UK Supreme Court.

Mehul Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi, wanted in the Rs 13,500-crore Punjab National Bank loan fraud case. They fled in January 2018. Choksi, the owner of defunct jewellery giant Gitanjali Group, became a citizen of Antigua through a government-run scheme. Modi was arrested on March 19, 2019 and was lodged at London’s Wandsworth Prison. Modi’s extradition to India has also been cleared and once extradited Modi would be kept at Mubia’s Arthur Road Jail,  whereas Choksi is fighting a legal battle in Antigua to stop the court from sending him to India.