AMN / NEW DELHI
India today made its first move to clampdown on big bank loan defaulters under a new law as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) moved court against liquor baron Vijay Mallya seeking to declare him a ‘fugitive offender’.
Officials said, ED filed an application before a special court in Mumbai, under the recently promulgated Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance, that empowers it to confiscate “all linked assets” of an absconding loan defaulter.
ED sought to confiscate all the properties of Vijay Mallya including those properties indirectly controlled by him, the estimated value of which is approximately 12,500 crore rupees.
As per the existing process of law under the PMLA, the ED could confiscate the assets only after the trial in a case finishes which usually takes many years.