Vijay Mallya's property in France worth Rs 14 crore seized: Enforcement Directorate

NEW DELHI: A property belonging to fugitive economic offender Vijay Mallya has been seized by the French authorities on the request of Enforcement Directorate.

In a press release issued on Friday, the federal agency said that a property of Vijay Mallya located at 32 Avenue FOCH, France has been seized by the French Authority.

The value of the seized asset in France is 1.6 Million Euros (approx. Rs 14 crores). ED has claimed that its probe conducted under PMLA revealed that a large amount was remitted abroad from the bank account of M/s. Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. (KAL).


ED had initiated investigation under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) based on FIR registered by CBI against M/s. Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. (KAL), Vijay Mallya & others in January 2016.

So far provisional Attachment Orders have been issued wherein properties worth Rs. 11231.70 crore (Market value at time of attachment) have been attached which stand confirmed by the agency’s adjudicating Authority.

Mallya was declared a fugitive economic offender on January 5, 2019. It was in June this year when a UK High Court rejected Mallya’s plea seeking permission to move the Supreme Court against the dismissal of his appeal challenging the lower Court’s approval of his extradition to India in the IDBI bank fraud case.

Mallya, who left the country in March 2016 and has been living in the UK, became the first person, in January 2019, to be declared a fugitive economic offender (FEO) under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.

A consortium of banks led by State Bank of India is seeking to recover more than Rs 9,000 crore from him and has confiscated his assets. The lenders want to liquidate the assets to claim Rs 6,203.35 crore along with 11.5% interest per annum payable since 2013.

Mallya is reported to have sought asylum in UK. In October this year, the Central government informed the Apex Court that Mallya’s extradition proceedings have been stalled by “secret” proceedings that have commenced in the UK. The development indicated that the former liquor baron may have sought asylum in the UK.