New Delhi: Fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya on Wednesday offered to pay back 100 per cent of principal amount to various banks in the country and urged the government to accept his offer. Mr Mallya’s offer comes when a UK court on December 10 is going to take a decision on his plea not to extradite him to India.
“The most important point is public money and I am offering to pay 100 per cent back. I humbly request the banks and Government to take it,” said the fugitive businessman in a social media post.
A day after extradition of arms middleman Christian James Michel from UAE to India, fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya on Wednesday offered to pay back 100 per cent of principal amount to various banks in the country and urged the government to accept his offer.
However, he claimed that his extradition and settlement offer are completely separate. “I filed my settlement offer in co-urt months ago. I want to pay the banks and stop the rhetoric that I stole money,” said Mallya. “I see the quick media narrative about my extradition decision. That is separate and will take its own legal course,” he said.
Mr Mallya said that airline was struggling financially partly because of high ATF prices. “Kingfisher was a fab airline that faced the highest ever crude prices of $140/barrel. Losses mounted and that’s where Banks money went. I have offered to repay 100 per cent of the ‘principal amount’ to them. Please take it,” he said.
Mr Mallya has been on bail in the UK on an extradition warrant since his arrest in April last year, is fighting extradition to India on charges of fraud and money laundering allegedly amounting to around Rs 9,000 crores.
