(The following article has been republished in the wake of the special PMLA court declaring Vijay Mallya a “fugitive economic offender” on Saturday, 5 January. It was originally published on 2 August 2018.)
Vijay Mallya has allegedly swindled the most from banks among 28 fugitive economic offenders on the list made public by the government.
Based on two complaints filed by investigating agencies, Mallya allegedly defrauded banks of about Rs 7,500 crore, according to the list the Finance Ministry submitted in the Lok Sabha. It includes cases under trial and being investigated.
The promoter of defunct Kingfisher Airlines is followed by jewellers Mehul Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi, who allegedly swindled the state-owned Punjab National Bank of Rs 14,000 crore.
Choksi fraudulently obtained Rs 7,080 crore from banks, while Modi swindled Rs 6,498 crore, the document alleges.
Choksi is the promoter of Gitanjali Jewels, while Nirav Modi owns a luxury designer jewellery brand by his own name. Both are under trial or investigation in separate cases.
Promoters of Sterling Biotech Ltd.—Chetan Sandesara, Nitin Sandesara and Diptiben Sandesara— allegedly defrauded banks of Rs 5,383 crore.
The Enforcement Directorate had attached the pharmaceutical company’s assets worth Rs 4,701 crore in a Rs 5,000-crore fraud and money laundering case.
Promoter of Winsome Diamonds Jatin Mehta, who is reportedly now a citizen of St Kitts, the Caribbean, allegedly cheated banks to the tune of Rs 4,625 crore.
He is under investigation in a case registered against him on March 26, 2014.
Nillesh Parrekh, Umesh Parekh and Kamlesh Parekh, promoters of Kolkata-based Shree Ganesh Jewellery House, also feature on the list—the amount involved is Rs 2,672 crore.
The list also includes names of Sabhya Seth, promoter of Dwarka Das Seth International, for allegedly defrauding Oriental Bank of Commerce to the tune of Rs 390 crore; and Rajiv and Alka Goyal, promoters of Surya Pharmaceuticals, for allegedly committing a fraud of Rs 621 crore, among others.
(This story was originally published on BloombergQuint.)
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