New Delhi, Vijay Mallya is now a poster boy of the long list of the bank defaulters who have hurt Indian economy by duping big banks of thousands of crores of rupees. His was probably the first reported case of a big bank fraud and opened a Pandora’s box and many such similar cases were reported, sounding an alert in the corridors of powe and setting off a blame game among different political parties.
Mallya on Tuesday broke his silence over the controversy surrounding him of defaulting on bank loans to the tune of Rs 9000 crores, and said he had been falsely framed as the “poster boy of bank default and a lightning rod of public anger”.
Liquor baron Vijay Mallya on Wednesday said he is not a fugitive and “always had honest intentions” to repay his loans.
A tweet war of sorts started when Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar said: “If Vijay Mallya wanted to pay the banks he had many many years to do so.”
Mallya responded to this with a tweet: “My old friend MJ Akbar (now Hon’ble MOS) states that I had years to repay. My settlement initiatives date back to 2016. Most importantly the value of assets today in 2018 is far higher than in 2016.”
Mallya then said that he was being falsely accused in chargesheets by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate.
He wrote: “CBI and ED chargesheets specifically allege criminality with no intention to repay banks. Since 2016, I have been making efforts to settle. Now I have placed everything before the honourable Karnataka High Court. So where is the malafide? Are banks interested in repayment?”
Mallya added: “Government, courts and banks are rightfully concerned about public money loaned by public sector banks. I have made an application to the Karnataka HC showing assets far in excess of the banks claims and requesting sale under judicial supervision. What more? Government wants to recover money loaned by PSU banks. They used CBI and ED to attach and recover.”
Mallya questioned CBI and ED’s chargesheet and said he has placed all his assets before the high court.
“It is incorrect that my settlement offer before the Karnataka HC was motivated by the latest chargesheet under the media reported Fugitive Ordinance. I always had honest intentions to settle and there is ample proof. I hope the sale of assets is approved for banks,” Mallya said.
