On March 22, the Center informed the Parliament that assets cumulatively worth over Rs 19,000 crore, belonging to financial crime fugitives Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, have been seized.
How Did This Happen?
The facts came into picture when Pankaj Chaudhary, the Minister of State for Finance made the submission in response to a query in the Rajya Sabha.
According to him, the trio have defrauded public sector banks to the tune of Rs 22,585.83 crore by siphoning off funds through entities linked to them, as per the written reply.
Further, he said, “… as on March 15, 2022, assets worth Rs 19,111.20 crore have been attached under the provisions of PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act),”.
Government Seized The Money
Moreover, the assets worth Rs 15,113.91 crore have been restituted to the public sector banks out of the total seized Rs 19,111.20 crore.
At the same time, the assets worth Rs 335.06 crore have been confiscated by the Government of India, said the minister.
He added, “As on March 15, 2022, 84.61 percent of the total defrauded funds in these cases have been attached/seized and 66.91 per cent of total loss to the banks has been handed over to banks/confiscated to Government of India,”.
It is pertinent to mention here that as on March 15, 2022, the consortium of lenders led by the State Bank of India (SBI) has realized Rs 7,975.27 crore by sale of assets handed over to them by the Directorate of Enforcement, Choudhary informed.
Basically, the court which is trying that the offense can restore any property/assets involved in money laundering to a legitimate third party claimant, including banks, according to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) and Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 (FEOA).
As it is applicable in the cases involving Mallya, Modi and Choksi.
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