Take my money, credit for recovery, Mallya tells Modi

LONDON: Contesting India’s extradition bid in UK courts, businessman Vijay Mallya on Thursday again took to Twitter to urge prime minister Narendra Modi to instruct Indian banks to take his money against unpaid loans extended to his defunct Kingfisher Airlines. “I respectfully ask why the prime minister is not instructing banks to take the money I have put on the table so he can at least claim credit for full recovery of public funds lent to Kingfisher”, he said in a series of tweets.

Mallya’s latest statements add to his often repeated claim inside and outside the courts that he is willing to settle with Indian banks, but that for unexplained reasons his offer was not being taken up. This reluctance, he has suggested, could be for political reasons.

Mallya’s legal team is in the process of applying for leave to appeal in the Court of Appeal against the home secretary’s February 4 decision to extradite him to India, based on a December 10 ruling by the Westminster Magistrates Court. He has 14 working days since February 4 to apply. Mallya flew to the UK in March 2016 as creditors closed in on him to recover ~9,000 crore owed to them by Kingfisher Airlines.he faces charges of fraud and money laundering in India.

Last month, in a Twitter post, he“humbly requested” various banks to take back all the money he borrowed to keep Kingfisher Airlines afloat and slammed the Indian media for repeatedly calling him a defaulter.

Again expressing frustration at the media narrative that he stole money and fled from India, Mallya said, “the prime minister’s last speech in Parliament was brought to my attention. He certainly is a very eloquent s peaker. I noti c e d t hat he referred to an unnamed person who ‘ran away’ with ~9,000 crores. Given the media narrative I can only infer that reference is to me. I have made the offer to settle before the Hon’ble high court of Karnataka. This cannot be dismissed as frivolous, It is a perfectly tangible, sincere, honest and readily achievable offer. The shoe is on the other foot now. Why don’t the banks take the money lent to KFA?”

Referring to reports of the Enforcement Directorate’s alleged claim that he had hidden his wealth, Mallya said: “If there was hidden wealth how could I put approximately 14,000 crores worth of assets only in front of Court? Shameful misleading of public opinion but unsurprising”.

Earlier this month, Mallya sought to question the narrative that he ‘ran away’ with ~9,000 crore from banks, asking if it is justified when assets worth ~13,000 crore belonging to him had been reportedly seized.

Expounding his version of events in tweets, he had claimed that “the DRT (Debt Recovery Tribunal) Recovery Officer recently attaches my Group assets worth over ~13,000 crores in India on behalf of the Consortium of Banks”.