The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has formally informed the Supreme Court of India that while public sector banks have successfully recovered approximately ₹14,131.60 crore through the attachment and liquidation of assets linked to fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya, the financial recoveries cannot absolve him of criminal liability under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), according to legal reporting by The Times of India.
In an affidavit submitted before the apex court, the federal anti-money laundering agency detailed that court-supervised auctions of shares, real estate properties, and financial holdings held by the debt recovery tribunal (DRT) have enabled creditor banks—led by State Bank of India—to recover roughly 80% of the principal loan dues owed by the defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
However, the agency emphasized that asset recovery and debt settlement are distinct legal matters from substantive criminal prosecution under the PMLA and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA). The agency argued that the diversion, fraudulent siphoning, and round-tripping of borrowed public funds into offshore entities constitute independent statutory financial offenses that must be adjudicated through trial in special criminal courts.
Mallya, who fled to the United Kingdom in March 2016 following loan default proceedings, remains the subject of long-running extradition litigation in British courts. The ED reiterated that financial recovery by lenders does not extinguish extradition warrants or grant immunity from prosecution upon his potential return to Indian jurisdiction.
