Mallya reportedly left Indian on March 2.
By Dileep Thekkethil
The government of India on Friday suspended the passport of liquor baron Vijay Mallya for four weeks after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) requested the Passport office in Delhi to revoke the passport of the chairman of the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, which owes Rs. 900 crores to IDBI bank.
Mallya who is currently in the UK, failed to show up before the probe agency on April 9, despite receiving a summons sent by ED three times. He had cited the ongoing legal proceedings going on in the Supreme Court over the settlement of loan as the reason for his absence.
The official press release of the Ministry of External affairs says: On the advice of the Enforcement Directorate, the Passport lssuing Authority in the Ministry of External Affairs has today suspended the validity of Mr. Vijay Mallya’s diplomatic passport with immediate effect for a period of 4 weeks, under Section 10 A of the Passports Act, 1967. ”
It further adds: “Mr. Mallya has been asked to respond within one week as to why his passport should not be impounded or revoked under section 10(3)(c) of the Passports Act, 1967. If he fails to respond within the stipulated time, it will be assumed that he has no response to offer and the MEA will go ahead with the revocation.”
Mallya is currently in the UK as banks back in India are struggling to recover the money he loaned from 17 different banks that accounts close to a billion dollars.
He was supposed to appear before the agency on March 18th and April 2nd, but he sought for an extension each time and the agency had to issue a fresh summons for April 9, which was also flouted by the billionaire.
Mallya reportedly left Indian on March 2, a few days before the court ordered a travel ban on him.
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