It seems like the walls are closing on Indian fugitives Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, and Mehul Choksi as their cumulative assets, worth 19,000 crores, yes 19,000 crores have been seized by the government.
The King of Liquor and on the run entrepreneur, Vijay Mallya, presently living in London, faces charges for fraud and money laundering amounting to Rs 9000 crores borrowed for Kingfisher Airlines from multiple banks.
Nirav Modi, was found guilty on the 19th of March three years ago, has been deemed guilty in the unauthorized issuing of letters of undertaking (LoUs) from amounting to Rs 13,578 crore. Gitanjali Jeweller’s owner, Mehul Choksi with his aide and relative, Nirav Modi have been proven guilty for committing fraud on the Punjab National Bank and draining their money using letters of undertaking.
Pankaj Chaudhary, the minister of state for finance said that the trio have siphoned over 22,000 crores from the Indian government through institutions that work with the public sector. Since the last eight days, Rs. 22,585 crores have been transferred to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Out of that, Rs. 19,111 crores have been injected into public banking institutions. The government has also taken over resources worth Rs. 335 crores.
This means that, 85% of the total holdings revolving around the cases of the three fugitives have been subjugated. Also, 67% of the total losses incurred by banks have been returned back to them.
The minister even said that, since March 15th, 2022, a network of lenders, headed by the State Bank of India have gained Rs. 7975 crores by the sale of assets that were transferred to them by the Directorate of Enforcement.
According to the Indian law, the courts that are trying the offence can restore any assets that have been subjugated, that initially was part of money laundering or embezzlement to any legitimate third-party including banks.
Hopefully the actions of the government sends shockwaves throughout the country and makes people think twice before embezzling money or avoiding taxes. It has been long overdue, but now that their empires have been crumbled, hopefully they can be extradited back to India and undergo a fair trial. Injecting all the subjugated assets back into the economy and public banks is also a good decision, as with the uncertainty in the world economy right now, its best not stay stagnant and always be growing.
