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Kingfisher beer fame Vijay Mallya had adequate funds but used them to buy properties worth crores in these countries - CBI chargesheet

Vijay Mallya's properties in the UK (Ladywalk in 2015-16 for Rs 80 crore) and France ('Le Grand Jardin' in 2008 for Rs 250 crore approximately) were acquired even as Kingfisher Airlines was facing severe a cash crunch (2008) and the lenders were yet to recover the loans defaulted upon him and the Airlines.

ET Now Digital

Updated Mar 23, 2023, 13:14 IST

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya had adequate funds but used them to buy properties worth crores in these countries - CBI chargesheet

Photo : ET Now Digital

Fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya had enough funds at his disposal between 2008 and 2016-17 which he used to purchase properties worth crores instead of repaying the banks. The liquor baron, who launched Kingfisher Airlines in May 2005, bought properties worth Rs 330 crore in England and France during 2015-16.

This was when his airline company was going through a cash crunch and banks had not recovered the loans defaulted by Mallya. The fugitive businessman is an accused in the alleged over Rs 900 crore IDBI Bank-Kingfisher Airlines loan fraud case being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

In a supplementary chargesheet filed before a special CBI court in Mumbai, the CBI has claimed that Mallya had enough funds with him between 2008 and 2016-17, but none of it was brought to support the airlines as equity infusion or to honour his obligations as a personal guarantor for the loans availed by KAL from IDBI and other banks in India.

"The properties in the UK (Ladywalk in 2015-16 for GBP 12-13 million or Rs 80 crore) and France ('Le Grand Jardin' in 2008 for Euro 35 million or Rs 250 crore approximately) were acquired by Mallya even as Kingfisher Airlines was facing severe a cash crunch (2008) and the lenders were yet to recover the loans defaulted upon by Mallya and the Airlines (2015-16)," CBI said.

It further added that significant amounts were transferred to Force India Formula 1 Team between 2008 and 2012 and sizeable amounts were diverted from 2007 to 2012-13 and used to make payments towards acquisition and repayment of loan for the corporate jet used personally by Mallya.

Mallya was declared a 'fugitive' by a special court in Mumbai on January 5, 2019.

In its latest chargesheet, the probe agency has added the name of IDBI Bank’s former general manager Buddhadev Dasgupta in addition to the 11 accused named in the earlier chargesheets. Using his position, Dasgupta conspired with the officers of IDBI Bank and Mallya in the matter of sanction and disbursement of the short-term loan (STL) of Rs 150 crore in October 2009.

The said loan of Rs 150 crore as envisaged originally by Dasgupta (by proposal circulated among credit committee members) was to be adjusted/repaid from the aggregate loan of Rs 750 crore originally sought by the airlines.

The chargesheet said the exposure of IDBI Bank was to be restricted to the aggregate amount of Rs 750 crore, but it became Rs 900 crore in December 2009 because the STL of Rs 150 crore was kept as a separate loan, largely at the behest of Dasgupta.

Besides the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also probing a money laundering case against Mallya.

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