PMLA court rejects Vijay Mallya plea seeking to stay attachment of his assets by Enforcement Directorate

The special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Tuesday rejected fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s plea seeking to stay attachment of his assets by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a media report said. According to Mint, Mallya will now move the Bombay High Court to stop the ED from attaching his properties. “We would like to appeal this order in the Bombay high court. Since we are challenging the order and there is a court vacation in between, we are just requesting a reasonable time from the court,” Amit Desai, senior counsel for Mallya was quoted as saying by the newspaper. [caption id=“attachment_5184191” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Vijay Mallya. Reuters[/caption] The court has also rejected Mallya’s plea seeking a stay on the proceedings initiated by the ED to declare him a fugitive economic offender (FEO). Special judge MS Azmi rejected Mallya’s plea and said the court will hear arguments on the main ED plea to declare the beleaguered industrialist an FEO on 22 November. The special court had heard extensive arguments on Friday from Mallya’s lawyer as well as the ED counsel on his petition seeking a stay on proceedings of the financial crime probe agency against him. The ED had also argued the court could first declare Mallya an FEO and then wait for the tribunal’s proceedings before acting upon the agency’s plea for the confiscation of the embattled liquor tycoon’s properties and assets. In June, the ED moved a court against Mallya seeking to confiscate his assets worth Rs 12,500 crore. The application sought to immediately confiscate about Rs 12,500 crore assets of Mallya and his companies, both movable and immovable. The ED had furnished evidences in its two charge sheets, filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the past. Mallya is contesting these money laundering charges in London as part of India’s efforts to extradite him from there and face the legal system here in connection with an overall alleged loan default of over Rs 9,000 crore of various banks. Mallya left India in March 2016. With inputs from PTI