Central Bureau of Investigation is carrying out simultaneous searches in five offices of Kingfisher Airlines and its owner Vijay Mallya across Mumbai, Bangalore and Goa with regard to loan worth Rs 950 crore sanctioned by IDBI bank. The residences of Mallya are also being searched upon.
A case has been registered against Mallya, the airline CFO A Raghunandan and other unnamed officials of the bank for sanctioning loan even though an internal note had suggested against sanctioning the loan.
The Central Bureau of Investigation had, last year, registered a preliminary enquiry to enquire into the role of IDBI Bank and Kingfisher Airlines in a loan sanctioning matter.
The enquiry was to find “how IDBI Bank had sanctioned Rs 950 crore when Kingfisher Airline had a negative networth and negative credit rating.”
CBI sources said that it was the first exposure for the bank. There was no need to take exposure outside the consortium when already other banks loans were getting stressed, they said.
The investigating agency is already investigating the loans granted by State Bank of India (SBI). SBI and various other banks have a total exposure of about Rs 6,500 crore in Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines.
It may be noted that Kingfisher Airlines had stopped operations with effect from October 1, 2012. Its air operator permit was suspended on October 20, 2012 and stands lapsed from December 31, 2012.