Rs 14,000 crore returned to banks from sale of Vijay Mallya's assets: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday informed the Lok Sabha that Rs 14,131.6 crore have been returned to various public sector banks from the sale of assets belonging to fugitive Vijay Mallya.

In her reply to a debate on the first batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants, Sitharaman said that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has restored nearly Rs 22,280 crore to either the victims or the rightful claimants from the sale of such assets belonging to economic offenders.

In the case of fugitive Nirav Modi, properties worth Rs 1,052.58 crore have been restored to PSBs and private banks. Meanwhile, properties worth Rs 2,565.90 crore have been attached and will be auctioned in the Mehul Choksi case.

In the National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) case, Rs 17.47 crore worth properties were restored to the genuine investors who were defrauded.

Sitharaman said that ED has relentless pursued all the offenders, even those who fled the country. "We have gone after them. ED has collected this money and given back to the banks ... it is important to recognize that we have not left anybody (committing) economic offences. We are after them. We will be making sure that money, which has got to go back to banks, will go back," Sitharaman said.

Sitharaman added that the Black Money Act of 2015 is having a deterrent effect on a lot of taxpayers and they come forward on their own to disclose their foreign assets.

The finance minister further informed the House that the number of taxpayers disclosing details of foreign assets has risen to 2 lakh in 2024-25, from 60,467 in 2021-22.

Under the Act, as of June 2024, demand of more than Rs 17,520 crore has been raised in 697 cases. Total 163 prosecutions have been launched.

Sitharaman said that action has been taken by the Centre to tax unaccounted and undisclosed foreign assets, adding that probe into HSBC, ICIJ, Panama, Paradise and Pandora leak-related cases is being carried out.

Further, undisclosed income of Rs 33,393 crore has been detected in 582 cases.

She said that a Multi-Agency Group (MAG), consisting of representatives from various enforcement agencies, has been set up by the government for expeditious and coordinated investigation of various categories of foreign asset cases.

(With inputs from PTI)