A special court in Mumbai on Saturday declared absconding accused liquor baron Vijay Mallya as a fugitive economic offender under the new Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.
Mr Mallya is the first person to be declared a fugitive economic offender and the government can now confiscate his properties.
On June 22, 2018, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had filed an application at the PMLA court to declare Mr. Mallya a fugitive economic offender and sought orders to confiscate all his properties estimated to be around ₹ 12,500 crore. On June 30, the PMLA court took cognizance of the application filed by the agency.
The ED has filed two separate complaints registered under PMLA for investigation of money laundering against Mr Mallya and Kingfisher Airlines Limited and United Breweries Holdings Limited and others.
On November 19, 2016 and July 5, 2017, non bailable warrants were issued against him and on April 21, 2018, the Act came into existence.
Mr Mallya left the country on March 2, 2016 and on April 18, 2017, he was arrested by the UK Metropolitan Police extradition unit.
On December 10, 2018, the United Kingdom court issued orders that Mr Mallya should be extradited from Britain.
