Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday informed how banks have collected roughly Rs 13,109 crore from asset sales of defaulters such as fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, and erstwhile liquor baron Vijay Mallya. The assets were seized by the Enforcement Directorate in accordance with the Anti-Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The Finance Minister further informed today that in the last seven years, bad loans have been resolved for a total of Rs 5.49 lakh crore. Only two states having a negative cash balance indicates that the rest of the states in the country have significant cash balances, said the FM.
She remarked this in response to a question about the second batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants, which the Lok Sabha passed despite the Opposition’s outrage over a variety of issues.
The government was authorised to spend an additional Rs 3.73 lakh crore during the current fiscal year under the Supplementary Demands for Grants.
Fugitive businessman and prime accused in the Rs 14,000 crore PNB scam, Nirav Modi is currently lodged in the Wandsworth jail in southwest London and has been denied bail on four occasions. Modi had been arrested in London on March 20, 17 months after he fled India. Meanwhile, Mallya owes over ₹9,000 crores to a consortium of banks in principal and interest.
ED recovers 80.45% of bank losses from assets of Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, and Mehul Choksi
It may be noted that until July, a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) had recovered Rs 792.11 crores from fugitives and wilful defaulters such as Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, and Mehul Choksi.
As per reports, the banks sold the shares of the three businessmen that were handed to them by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The central agency had confiscated their assets under the stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). According to ED, it has recovered ₹13,109.17 crores through the sale of its assets to banks, out of ₹9,371 crores worth of assets was handed in June. Till date, a total of assets worth ₹18,170.02 crores have been confiscated by the Enforcement Directorate, which constitutes 80.45% of the total loss to banks.
