The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday sought revocation of the passport of liquor baron Vijay Mallya who failed to appear before the agency thrice in connection with its money laundering probe in the Rs 950 crore IDBI bank loan fraud case.
The agency has communicated to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to take action under the Passport Act, 1967 and asked the Regional Passport Office (RPO) here to revoke the diplomatic passport of the Rajya Sabha MP as he has turned out to be “un-cooperative” with its investigators in the criminal case under the Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMlA), officials said.
In its communication of the MEA, the agency has also cited various pending court cases against Mallya in connection with alleged loan default and dishonour of cheques.
Mallya left the country for the United Kingdom on March 2 using a diplomatic passport issued by the Delhi RPO to him by virtue of him being a sitting Rajya Sabha MP.
In its request to the MEA, the agency also said that despite cooperating with Mallya thrice by way of providing him fresh dates for personal appearance, the Investigating Officer (IO) of the case has only met with “non cooperation” which is leading to a delay in taking the probe forward.
Under the Passport Act, when a person is issued a diplomatic passport their regular international travel document gets deposited. If the diplomatic passport is revoked the latter too gets cancelled.
They said once the ED request is approved, the MEA will inform the UK authorities about the same and seek his deportation to India.
Mallya had thrice failed to appear before the ED IO in Mumbai in connection with the Rs 950 crore IDBI loan fraud case which the Central probe agency is investigating under PMlA.
On all the three occasions when he was called -- March 18, April 2 and April 9 -- Mallya had said that he will be unable to depose personally citing the ongoing legal proceedings in the Supreme Court over settlement of loans.
However, Mallya has suggested his legal team can cooperate with the ED in taking the probe forward.
“He is the main person in the case. His joining the investigations personally is essential,” officials said.
Besides the revocation of Mallya’s passport, the ED also has the option to approach a competent court and get issued a non-bailable warrant against him and also ask the Interpol to issue a Red Corner Notice (RCN) against him and apprehend him anywhere across the globe.
Mallya, who is facing legal proceedings for alleged default of loans worth over Rs 9,000 crore from various banks, was also directed by the Supreme Court to disclose all assets owned by him and his family in India and abroad by April 21.