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‘Why Jet, And Not Me’, Vijay Mallya Asks Indian Government, Tells Banks To Use ‘His Money’ To Bail Out Sinking Rival
Fugitive economic offender VIjay Mallya. (Flickr/RCB)
Fugitive economic offender Vijay Mallya today (26 March) asked Indian banks to ‘take his money’ to save the financially-troubled airline Jet Airways which has been saddled with massive debt and grounded planes in the past few months.
Mallya took to Twitter to reiterate his offer. “I repeat once again that I have placed liquid assets before the Hon'ble Karnataka High Court to pay off the PSU Banks and all other creditors. Why do the Banks not take my money. It will help them to save Jet Airways if nothing else," the liquor baron tweeted.
Mallya has been accused of money laundering and bank-fraud cases have been filed against him by Indian authorities. He is alleged to have siphoned off funds from the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines and defaulted on Rs 9,000 crore worth loans from Indian banks. He is currently fighting an extradition case in the UK.
On 5 January 2019, the absconding liquor baron became India’s first business tycoon to be declared a “fugitive economic offender” under the NDA government’s new Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEO Act).
Double Standards?
Mallya went on to claim that the NDA government displayed "double standards." He asked why public sector banks (PSBs) came together to save Jet Airways but let his company, Kingfisher Airlines, "fail ruthlessly."
It should be noted that it was under the UPA II government that Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines defaulted on its loans and had to shut down its operations. Also, an investigation by Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently revealed that promoters of Kingfisher Airlines, including Vijay Mallya and United Breweries Holdings Ltd (UBHL), showed no intention of repaying loans of the airlines despite possessing a significant amount of movable assets at their disposal.
"Happy to see that PSU Banks have bailed out Jet Airways saving jobs, connectivity and enterprise. Only wish the same was done for Kingfisher," he lamented in a tweet.
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