The Enforcement Directorate has recovered ₹1,008 crore by selling the shares of United Breweries Ltd. This is in line with the enforcement agency’s attempts to recover dues from Vijay Mallya, the fugitive economic offender, by liquidating his assets in India. The shares of UBL put on sale belonged to Mallya and had been offered as a collateral for loans.

The sale was conducted after the Special Court constituted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PLMA) gave a green signal for the same on Tuesday. The shares were sold by ED’s recovery officer on Wednesday and ₹1,008 crore has been realised, an official statement said.

Effectively, the 74,04,932 equity shares of the company, constituting 2.80 per cent of the total issued and paid-up equity share capital, have been sold at around ₹1,361.25 a scrip. Shares of United Breweries closed at ₹1,355.50 on Wednesday.

It was not immediately clear who bought the shares.

Kothari’s custody secured

In a separate development, the ED has secured custody of Vijay Kothari till March 29. Kothari is alleged to have been involved in layering of funds in his five companies by carrying out a series of transactions through these companies and also other shell companies floated by him. He had control over scores of such bank accounts and had managed to illegally remit funds outside India, an ED statement said.

Till now, properties worth ₹20 crore involved in money laundering have been attached under the PMLA and further investigation is on, the ED statement added.

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