In its sternest action so far against Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines, the CBI has arrested eight people, including former IDBI Bank chairman Yogesh Aggarwal and the now-defunct airline's ex-CFO A Raghunathan, in a seven-year-old case related to Rs 900-crore loan default.
The agency is planning to declare the flamboyant businessman a "proclaimed offender," paving the way for attachment of his properties under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The CBI also arrested IDBI Bank's ex-deputy managing director O V Bundellu and two other officials, SKV Srinivasan and R S Sridhar. KFA executives Shailesh Borkar, AC Shah and Amit Nadkarni were among the eight arrested.
BCCL
Sources said the arrest of IDBI Bank's former deputy managing director BK Batra was imminent as the CBI seeks to tighten the noose around Mallya who fled the country on March 2 last year even as probes were underway.
The action against the former CMD and two ex-DMDs of a bank is the strongest action yet against an entity, though top-ranking bank executives had been arrested in the past, too, on corruption charges. The Enforcement Directorate has already attached several assets belonging to Mallya.
The arrests were followed by raids at 11 places, including Mallya's residence, three floors of UB Towers in Bengaluru and residences of Aggarwal and Raghunathan. In 2009-10, when the UPA was in office at the Centre, IDBI Bank had led a loan restructuring exercise for debtladen KFA despite the airline enjoying sub-par rating. The bank had accepted the 'Kingfisher brand' as collateral for the loan even as the company was facing turbulence.
Livemint
The airline subsequently began defaulting on repayment to all lenders. The CBI as well as the ED began to pursue the case with, what sources called, a serious intent after the regime change in Delhi in 2014, causing discomfort to the glamorous tycoon. The case took on a political dimension when Mallya, taking advantage of the absence of a warrant, quietly slipped out to London, a twist in the plot which was seized upon by Congress to accuse the BJP government of helping the liquor baron flee the country.
The CBI's tough action can help the saffron establishment, which had always smarted under Congress's charge and pointed out that Mallya was a beneficiary of the "crony capitalism" under UPA, to turn the political tables on the opposition party. The political confrontation post-demonetisation has, in any case, seen BJP releasing details of loans sanctioned by public sector banks under UPA to Mallya and other big industrial houses.
bccl
Arrests of key executives of IDBI Bank and the now-defunct KFA will give the offensive a sharper edge in the campaign for assembly polls. The CBI has alleged that after meetings between Agarwal and Mallya, executives of IDBI had pushed a loan to the airline, overruling concerns from other departments.
Batra, who was then the head of corporate banking, is accused of processing the papers hastily and recommending that Agarwal could sanction the loan without the executive committee's approval.
Agarwal had defended his actions and said the disbursement was made in anticipation of the executive committee's approval and said it was not unusual. UB Group confirmed a visit by the CBI team. "A CBI team visited the UB Group offices in Bangalore today and we are fully cooperation with them," a UB group spokesperson said.