Flamboyant versus thrifty Mallya

Mallya raised $ 10 million for Trump Plaza apartment but at the same time pocketed petty amounts as RS member

There are two sides to Vijay Mallya: one, the flamboyant spendthrift who raised $ 10 million dollars just last month for retaining an apartment in the famous Trump Plaza in Manhattan, even as Indian bankers were queuing at his doorstep for unpaid loans.

The other side to him is that of a thrifty businessman who did not hesitate to claim amounts as little as Rs.20000 as perks to which he was entitled to as a Rajya Sabha MP, a reply to an RTI query has revealed.

In response to a Right to Information query by a Bareilly-based activist Mohammad Khalid Jeelani, the Rajya Sabha secretariat disclosed that the liquor baron regularly pocketed Rs.50000 per month as parliamentarian's salary as well as other perks like constituency allowance and telephone reimbursements.

Jeelani told IANS that he was "shocked by the findings as Mallya was known for his flamboyant lifestyle -- 'living life king size'". The reply also revealed that while Mallya had not availed of any airfare reimbursements, he happily raised a bill of Rs.1.73 lakh on calls from his official phone number. The billionaire also drew Rs.6000 per month toward office expenses and Rs.15000

thereafter. (The figures pertain to period between July 1 2010 and September 30 2010). Incidentally, the penthouse in Trump Plaza was picked as part of a series of purchases Mallya made through 2010, which also included two apartments in the same building. A year before the Trump Plaza purchases, Kingfisher had received a Rs. 900 crore loan from state-run IDBI Bank, which is currently under the ED scanner. One of the allegations against Mallya is that he used loans given to his now-defunct airlines to buy properties abroad. The industrialist has denied the charge even as he has refused to divulge details of his properties abroad since he is an NRI.