Will Kingfisher owner and oil baron Vijay Mallya ever pay up his dues? So far he hasn’t despite his vast assets? Or has he?
Fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya who broke his ‘two years of silence’ over the controversy surrounding him in the over Rs 9,000-crore Kingfisher Airline loan default case, said the reason he decided to do so was that he wanted to pay up his loan to the banks.
Mallya wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Finance Minister on the 15th of April, 2016 which he made public on Twitter on Tuesday. He had written his side of the story but had not received any response from either of them. He denied charges of fraud and money laundering.
A letter I wrote to the Prime Minister in 2016 … 1/6 pic.twitter.com/EjPZtgR5b0
— Vijay Mallya (@TheVijayMallya) June 26, 2018
The debt-laden airline was grounded in 2012. Vijay Mallya moved to the United Kingdom in March last year.
In an exclusive interview with an international TV channel, Mallya said he chose to make a public statement now as he and his firm, United Breweries Holdings Ltd (UBHL) had filed an application before the Karnataka High Court on 22 June 2018. In his application he had sought permission to sell assets worth nearly Rs 13,900 crore and repay creditors, he told the TV channel.
“We have requested the courts’ permission to allow us to sell these assets under judicial supervision and repay creditors … if the criminal agencies such as ED (Enforcement Directorate) or CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) object to my proposal and object to the sale of assets, it will clearly demonstrate that there is an agenda against me, “the Poster Boy” beyond recovery of dues to public sector banks,” he said.
Mallya also said that he had made and continued to make every effort, in good faith to settle with the public sector banks. But he said there is ‘nothing’ he could do if ‘politically motivated’ extraneous factors interfered on the case.
BUT WHY HAS THE BARON BROKEN THE SILENCE NOW?
In a tweet earlier, Mallya touched upon why he broke his silence. ” Some people have been asking why I chose to make a statement at this time. I have made my statement because UBHL and myself have filed an application before the Hon’ble Karnataka High Court on June 22, 2018, setting out available assets of approximately Rs. 13,900 crores,” he said.
However, there is more to the story.
The offer of the settlement came a day before an ED court is likely to take up a case to declare him a fugitive and allow it to confiscate his assets. His statement may also be aimed at strengthening his case in British and Indian courts. The main accusation against him is of fraud while Mallya wants to prove that it was a genuine business failure. The letters are intended to show that he made an attempt to repay.
Even if British courts allow his extradition, they may put conditions for which he can be tried and that may restrict the government authorities’ hands in India. Mallya’s attempt to present his version of the story may be seen as a direct fallout of him feeling the heat and the likelihood of the authorities closing in. If the government does manage to extradite the fugitive liquor baron ahead of the 2019 general elections, it could prove to be a major shot in the arm for the Narendra Modi government.
Dues against his company can be recovered from his personal assets only if fraud is proven or that he used his position to illegally enrich himself. His bungalow, on Delhi’s Sardar Patel Road, for instance, is worth several hundred crore rupees. The letters thus may also be seen as an attempt to safeguard his personal assets.
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