Vijay Mallya laundered Rs 1,301.67 crore though various shell companies in India and abroad, according to a complaint by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) before the special court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The agency suspects that Mallya has around 13 such shell companies in the United States, Ireland, Mauritius and France. In its complaint, ED said that the only purpose of these companies under Mallya’s control was to either obtain loans or launder money, the report said, quoting the ED complaint.
The central agency had last month filed a chargesheet against Mallya and nine others, including top officials of IDBI bank, from where Mallya had obtained a loan of Rs 950 crore. Taking cognisance of the complaint of the central agency, the PMLA court issued arrest warrants against all the accused, the report said.
In its complaint, the ED listed various shell companies including M/s PE Data Centre Resources Private Limited, M/s Pharma Trading Limited, M/s Kingfisher Finvest Limited, Devi Investment Private Limited, M/s Mallya Investment Private Limited, and M/s Gem Investment.
The agency claimed these shell companies had no actual activities and their directors were ex-employees of Mallya’s United Breweries group, the report said. The agency further claimed that some of the companies had not even hired employees and only these directors were on the payroll. The agency alleged that these companies were directly under Mallya’s control.
The agency alleged that one of the shell companies – PE data Centre Resources Private Limited — had obtained a loan of Rs 100 crore and funds were transferred to the account of Kingfisher Airlines.
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