Banks recover 40 per cent of loss in PNB, Mallya fraud

A man walks past a wall graffiti displaying cartoons of Indian businessmen Vijay Mallya and (right) Nirav Modi. File pic/AFP

About 40 per cent of the money lost by banks in alleged frauds perpetrated by fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya has been recovered so far, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said after the sale of attached shares worth over Rs 5,800 crore on Wednesday.

According to the agency, the latest sale proceeds take the total value of recovery to Rs 9,041.5 crore, or 40 per cent of the over Rs 22,000 crore allegedly defrauded by the trio.

The three, who fled overseas as probe against them gathered pace, are being investigated by central investigative agencies such as the ED and the CBI after they were alleged to have cheated banks, and these frauds have been categorised as among the country's biggest criminal loan heist till date.

The central agency, in a statement, gave the low-down on these two cases - the estimated Rs 13,000 crore fraud allegedly carried out by diamond trader Modi, his uncle Choksi and others in the Brady House branch of PNB in Mumbai and the about Rs 9,000 crore Kingfisher Airlines fraud triggered by Mallya.

It said the three "defrauded" public sector banks by siphoning off the funds through their companies, resulting in total loss of Rs 22,585.83 crore to a clutch of banks.

The ED went on to attach and seize total assets worth Rs 18,170.02 crore in these two cases that included Rs 969 crore worth of properties "located" abroad. "The quantum of the attached and seized assets represent 80.45 per cent of the total bank loss of Rs 22,585.83 crore," the ED said.

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