India: Central Bureau of Investigation visits United Breweries’ offices in Bengaluru

A team of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from Delhi ‘visited’ United Breweries’ offices in Bengaluru on January 23. The UB Group spokesperson confirmed the visit of the CBI officials and said that the company is fully cooperating with investigative agency, the Financial Express reported on the same day.

According to reports, a 12-member team of the CBI is searching the offices in the UB City with a search warrant from a Delhi court, while the specific reason for the search warrant is yet not known. UB Group is led by Vijay Mallya. The flamboyant billionaire is facing the process of recovery of Rs 6,203 crore from banks in the Kingfisher Airlines case and has been declared a proclaimed offender by a court.

As per the reports by PTI, the CBI officials’ visit to UB Group offices comes days after the Bengaluru Debt Recovery Tribunal on January 19 ordered the SBI-led consortium of banks to start the process of recovering Rs 6,203 crore at an annual interest rate of 11.5 per cent from the embattled tycoon and his companies in the Kingfisher Airlines case.

United Breweries core business includes beverages, aviation and investments in various sectors. The company owns various other brands of alcoholic beverages and markets beer under the Kingfisher brand. The company chairman is Vijay Mallya, who left India on 2 March 2016, allegedly to escape legal action by banks to whom he owes some Rs 9,000 crore in loans.

24 January, 2017