Mallya's ₹7.5k-cr net worth in '17 enough to repay banks: CBI

The last charge sheet filed by CBI before the special CBI court in Mumbai last year became available last week.

- Charul Shah

A Swiss bank estimated fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya’s net worth at ₹7,500 crore in August 2017, the Central Bureau of Investigation said in its third supplementary charge sheet filed in connection with the Kingfisher Airlines loan fraud case -- pointing out that he had enough funds at his disposal to repay banks from which his airline had borrowed money. The central agency also claimed that the liquor baron established around 44 entities in the United Kingdom through which he acquired and invested in several properties across Europe.

The charge sheet primarily contained information received by the agency from UK, Mauritius and Switzerland. The charge sheet referred to a letter from CBH (Compagnie Bancaire Helvétique) Bank (a Swiss Bank) in which Mallya had accounts, where bank officials put Mallya’s net worth at arounds $ 1 billion (₹7,500 crore approximately in August 2017).

In the supplementary charge sheet, the agency has claimed that Mallya had sufficient funds at his disposal between 2008 and 2014. However, despite repeated promises of equity infusion in Kingfisher Airlines Limited (KAL) to lenders, including IDBI Bank, he didn’t follow through.

Instead, CBI said in the charge sheet, Kingfisher Airlines transferred