ED Enables Restitution Of Rs 312 Crore To Kingfisher Ex-Workforce

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said that they have facilitated the restitution of Rs 311.67 crore towards the unpaid due of now-defunct airline Kingfisher's staff, as per a press release by the probing agency.

ED's facilitation of restitution reinstates its efforts towards the victim centric restoration of proceeds of crime under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

The government agency further stated that the restitution process is in line with an order passed on Dec. 12, 2025.

The order was passed by the Recovery Officer, Debts Recovery Tribunal-I, Chennai, and directed release of funds acquired from the sale of attached shares which had been earlier restituted to State Bank of India (SBI) by ED under PMLA. The amount of these shares will now be transferred to the Official Liquidator for disbursement to former employees of Kingfisher Airlines, as per the ED.

Investigation into the Kingfisher case began with multiple Enforcement Case Information Report or ECIRs based on FIRs filed by the CBI against the airline, the central agency noted.

CBI's FIRs named liquor baron and its promoter Vijay Mallya, and associated entities for alleged bank fraud and criminal conspiracy, offences classified as "scheduled offences" under the PMLA.

Further probe into the matter uncovered that huge portions of the loans taken by the airline were diverted towards ends that were not initially intended, such as repayment of older debts, settlement of discounted bills, and remittance of funds abroad under the guise of lease rentals and aircraft part purchases.

In total, ED has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 5,042 crore under the PMLA and additional properties worth Rs 1,694.52 crore under the Section of CrPC the spokesperson said.

The ED restituted assets worth Rs 14,132 crore to SBI, following permission by a Special Court to restitute attached properties through the Recovery Officer of DRT, Bengaluru.

For this to happen applications by the SBI-led banking consortium under Section 8(8) of PMLA were filed, according to ED.