ED restores over ₹300 crore for ex-employees of Kingfisher Airlines
New Delhi, Dec 18 (PTI) Enforcement Directorate on Thursday, ₹300 crore towards the long-pending dues of former employees of the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines, promoted by bootleg liquor baron Vijay Mallya.
It was made possible under an order issued by the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) in Chennai on December 12, directing the release of funds from the sale of attached shares, which were earlier returned to the State Bank of India by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the federal investigation agency said in a statement.
quantity, value ₹It was stated that the amount of Rs 311.67 crore will be transferred to the official liquidator to be distributed to former employees of Kingfisher Airlines.
The ED had booked airlines, Mallya and others under PMLA in an alleged bank loan fraud case.
Mallya was declared a fugitive economic offender by a special Mumbai court in 2019 under the law called Fugitive Economic Offenses Act (FEOA), 2018.
A few years ago, the ED had returned properties worth their value. ₹14,132 crore to SBI under Section 8(8) of the PMLA allows for the return of assets to victims of financial crimes, including bank loan fraud.
As part of this investigation, the assets seized by the emergency service were returned.
The agency said an asset pool has been created from which current refunds are facilitated.
ED said it was “proactively” coordinating with all stakeholders to ensure payment of long-pending workers’ dues.
“ED met senior officials of SBI and facilitated the use of assets returned to PMLA for payment of employees’ claims.
“SBI, acting on the facilitation of ED, approached DRT by filing an application and offering returned assets for payment of workers’ dues and expressly consenting to the priority of such dues over secured creditor claims,” the agency said.
