Global bids for sale of corporate jet airbus A319 belonging to the now-grounded Kingfisher Airlines and stationed at Mumbai International Airport, have been invited by the service tax department in Mumbai. The airbus was earlier attached by the department.

The bidding will be conducted by MSTC, the selling agent of the department, on November 28 and 29, according to an auction notice. As part of pre-bid verification, bidders can seek clarification from the department regarding the aircraft, its particulars, equipment and any related documents. “The bidder will not raise any dispute regarding the terms and conditions of the e-auction or about the particulars of the aircraft or contest the same once he has been declared as the successful bidder for the aircraft,” said the e-auction guidelines.

Prospective bidders will have to submit interest-free, pre-bid Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) to MSTC by November 27. EMD for Indian bidders has been kept at Rs 1 crore while it will be USD 152,000 for foreign players. In March, MSTC had claimed in a petition to the Bombay high court that former Kingfisher owner Vijay Mallya’s total disputed liability in respect of service tax was about Rs 535 crore. The department had also claimed that Mallya amassed a huge sum of money as service tax from flyers of Kingfisher Airlines on behalf of the government, but the same was not deposited in the government treasury. Mallya, whose group company owes over Rs 9,000 crore to 17 banks, fled from India on March 2 and is believed to be in the UK.

In August this year, lenders to Kingfisher Airlines and tax authorities put under the hammer various movable and immovable assets of KFA for the second time but failed to get any buyers.