The former Chief Financial Officer of now defunct Kingfisher Airlines today appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office in Mumbai in connection with the money laundering case. The ED had on Thursday summoned A Raghunathan, former CFO, along with former Chairman and Managing Director of the bank, Yogesh Agarwal and four others of IDBI Bank as part of its probe into money laundering case and default of over Rs 900 crore loan from IDBI bank alone. UB Group chairman and owner of Kingfisher Airlines Vijay Mallya is said to have fled the country last week with a total outstanding loan of Rs. 9000 crore taken mostly from state-owned banks.<br/><br/>The ED recently registered a money laundering case against Mallya and others based on a CBI FIR registered last year. The agency is investigating the financial structure of Kingfisher airlines and kickbacks made, if any. The ED is also looking into the "proceeds of crime" that would have been generated using the slush funds of the alleged loan fraud and it is also probing if some of this amount was sent abroad illegally. According to ED officials, in his statement recorded last month to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), Raghunathan has blamed Mallya (for the financial crisis that befell KFA) and said he worked as per the directions from the latter.<br/><br/>The CBI has filed an FIR against Mallya, the company, Raghunathan and unknown officials of IDBI Bank for sanctioning loans in violation of norms regarding credit limits. Meanwhile, in a case filed by Service Tax Department against Mallya in Bombay High Court, the next hearing would take place on March 28. The Department said tax worth Rs. 32.6 crore collected from passengers was diverted towards development of the Airlines.