End of good times: Mallya barred from accessing Diageo payout, faces ED case

New Delhi/ Bengaluru: It was a day of twin setbacks for the king of good times -- the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) barred Vijay Mallya from accessing $ 75 million (Rs 515 crore) exit payment from Diageo over a loan default case with SBI while the Enforcement Directorate registered a money laundering case over a loan default with IDBI.

DRT, allowing a plea by State Bank of India, restrained Diageo from disbursing the money for now and set March 28 as the next date of hearing. The public sector bank had sought DRT's intervention in seeking the lenders'first right on the severance payout from Diageo.

Mallya was to step down as chairman of United Spirits Ltd in a settlement with its new owner, Britain's Diageo and settle down in London.

SBI had filed three other applications, including one seeking Mallya's arrest and impounding of his passport. Mallya's defunct Kingfisher Airlines owes Rs 7,800 crore to a consortium of 17 banks led by SBI.

The DRT order comes hours after Mallya said he was in talks with banks for a one-time settlement and theat he had no plans of running away.

Earlier, in the day ED registered a money laundering case against him and others in connection with the alleged default of over Rs 900 crore loan from IDBI bank.

Official sources said the agency recently filed charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on an FIR registered last year by CBI, and that he could also be probed for possible foreign exchange violations.

"Mallya and others will soon be questioned. The agency has collected relevant documents from concerned authorities and the bank in question," sources told PTI.

Last year, SBI declared Mallya as wilful defaulter while Punjab National Bank followed suit last month to declare him, his group holding company United Breweries Holdings and Kingfisher Airlines as wilful defaulters.

Mallya started Kingfisher Airlines in 2005 but it was grounded in 2012 amid mounting debt.

In 2012, he sold United Spirits to Britain's Diageo; but after an internal inquiry found he diverted funds to other companies, he agreed last month to give up his chairmanship.Diageo was to pay Mallya $ 40 million immediately and the balance in equal instalments over the next five years.