New Delhi, Dec. 19 -- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said it had cleared the release of Rs.311 crore of impounded assets that are to be used by the official liquidator of Kingfisher Airlines to pay long-pending dues of employees of the now defunct airline promoted by liquor baron Vijay Mallya. ED said in a statement that it facilitated the restitution of Rs.311 crore after a December 12 order passed by the recovery officer, Debts Recovery Tribunal-I, Chennai, that directed the release of funds realised from the sale of attached shares which had been earlier restituted to State Bank of India (SBI) by the agency. ED said on its facilitation, SBI had filed an application with the DRT offering the restituted assets for the discharge of workmen dues and expressly consenting to the priority of such dues over secured creditor claims SBI was the lead bank among a consortium of banks that had lent money to the company. The ED statement comes after media reports that the staff dues had not been released by SBI. Kingfisher Airlines Ltd's (KAL's) flying licence was officially suspended by the civil aviation regulator in 2012. By then its planes had been grounded by mounting debt. ED had initiated a probe against KAL, its then owner Mallya, and associated entities. ED found large-scale diversion and siphoning of loan funds, leading to attachment of movable and immovable properties of KAL, Mallya, other companies linked to the tycoon such as United Breweries Holdings Ltd. Mallya fled to the UK in March 2016. He was arrested by Scotland Yard on April 18, 2017 based on an extradition request by India. The extradition has been cleared by the UK courts but it is stuck due to certain confidential proceedings - believed to be his asylum application pending with the British government. Mallya was declared a fugitive economic offender under Fugitive Economic Offences Act (FEOA) 2018 on January 5, 2019. ED said on Thursday that it has already restituted properties amounting to Rs.14,132 crore to SBI under section 8(8) of PMLA, "thereby creating the asset pool from which the present restitution has been facilitated". The agency said it had coordinated with all stakeholders to ensure settlement of the long-pending workmen dues. "Acting upon ED's facilitation, SBI approached the DRT by filing interlocutory application offering the restituted assets for discharge of workmen dues and expressly consenting to the priority of such dues over secured creditor claims. This culminated in the DRT directing the official liquidator for disbursement of workmen dues amounting to Rs 311.67 crore to former employees of Kingfisher Airlines," ED said. "This restitution underscores the ED's continued commitment to depriving economic offenders of the proceeds of crime while ensuring restoration of such proceeds to rightful stakeholders, including affected employees," it added. In an interview with a YouTuber in June this year, Mallya said he made efforts to disburse the pending staff salaries but legal proceedings in the case didn't permit him to do so....