Have become a poster boy for NPAs: Vijay Mallya
India has asked Britain to extradite Mr Mallya to face trial after he fled the country in March 2016.
New Delhi: Breaking his two years of silence, fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya on Tuesday claimed that he has become "poster boy" of bank default and lighting rod of public anger and said that he has sought court approval to sell frozen assets worth Rs 13,900 crore ($2 billion) to settle dues.
He said that if the Enforcement Directorate or CBI object to the sale of assets, “it will clearly demonstrate that there is an agenda against me beyond recovery of dues to Public Sector Banks.”
“I have made and continue to make every effort, in good faith to settle with the Public Sector Banks. If politically motivated extraneous factors interfere, there is nothing that I can do,” said Mr Mallya, who now lives in the UK.
India has asked Britain to extradite Mr Mallya to face trial after he fled the country in March 2016. Last week ED also filed an application seeking to declare Mr Mallya a “fugitive economic offender” under the recently promulgated Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance and sought to confiscate '12,500 crore worth of his assets.
Mr Mallya said that he was tired of this relentless pursuit “by the government and its criminal agencies” and all his efforts are either ignored or misunderstood.
“Recovery of loans is a civil matter which has been criminalised in my case. The CBI and ED moving aggressively to recover bank loans is unprecedented despite my best intentions to settle with the banks,” he said.
Mr Mallya said that he has filed an application before Karnataka High Court on June 22, 2018, setting out available assets of approximately '13,900 crore.
“We have requested the courts permission to allow us to sell these assets under judicial supervision and repay creditors, including the Public Sector Banks such amounts as may be directed and determined by the Court,” he said.
Mr Mallya said that the bulk of the claim of the Public Sector Banks is on account of interest. He said that on account of various injunctions, attachments and the refusal to grant permissions to sell available assets, the interest keeps mounting. “Consequently, the bloated figure of outstanding dues to the banks is largely on account of these mala fide actions,” he said.