How Vijay Mallya bought loans and silence: Fraud Office reveals

More skeletons are tumbling out in the Vijay Mallya case. A probe by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has revealed that “outside pressure and intervention” was used in the “sanction and disbursement of corporate loan of Rs 2,000 crore” to Kingfisher Airlines (KFA), according to a report in The Indian Express.

The SFIO accessed emails – seized from computers obtained by the Central Bureau of Investigation – which show that finance ministry officials advised banks like State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Bank of India to sanction loans to the now-defunct KFA, the report said, adding that the SFIO’s 157-page summary, submitted to the corporate affairs ministry on August 27, pointed out that Mallya met with a former SBI senior official in 2009 on the advice of a senior finance ministry official, who assured disbursement of loan of Rs 500 crore from the lender.

The SFIO report says that an analysis of emails revealed cases of “corporate espionage,” freebies to politicians, officials and bureaucrats to buy influence and co-opting of independent directors using incentives and contracts.

Liquor baron Mallya bestowed favours “to get necessary approvals on priority required for running the airlines, but in the long-run adversely affect(ed) the viability of operations,” said the SFIO report.

KFA owes more than Rs 9,000 crore to at least 17 lenders including SBI, IDBI Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and United Bank of India.